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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 

E. LESTER JONES, Superintendent 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE 
EARTH’S MAGNETISM 

AND METHODS OF DETERMIN¬ 
ING THE TRUE MERIDIAN AND 
THE MAGNETIC DECLINATION 


[Reprinted from United States Magnetic Declination Tables and Isogonic 
Charts for 1902] 


[Reprinted from edition of 1914] 



( 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1919 





























































































































COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY OFFICE. 




















DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 


U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 
»» 


E. LESTER JONES, Superintendent 



PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE 
EARTH’S MAGNETISM 


AND METHODS OF DETERMIN¬ 
ING THE TRUE MERIDIAN AND 
THE MAGNETIC DECLINATION 


[Reprinted from United States Magnetic Declination Tables and Isogonic 
Charts for 1902 ] 


i 

[ Reprinted from edition of 1914] 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 








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n; «f B. 

AUG 29 1913 

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CONTENTS. 


Page. 


Preface. 7 

Definitions. 9 

Principal Facts Relating to the Earth’s Magnetism. 

Early History of the Compass. 

Discovery of the Lodestone. n 

Discovery of Polarity of Lodestone. iz 

Introduction of the Compass..... 15 

Improvement of the Compass by Petrius Peregrinus. 16 

Improvement of the Compass by Flavio Gioja. 20 

Derivation of the word Compass. 21 

Voyages of Discovery. 21 

Compass Charts. 21 

Birth of the Science of Terrestrial Magnetism. 

Discovery of the Magnetic Declination at Sea. 22 

Discovery of the Magnetic Declination on Land. 25 

Early Methods for Determining the Magnetic Declination and the Earliest Values on 

Land. 26 

Discovery of the Magnetic Inclination. 30 

The Earth, a Great Magnet. 

Gilbert’s “ De Magnete ”.'. 34 

The Variations of the Earth’s Magnetism. 

Discovery of Secular Change of Magnetic Declination. 38 

Characteristics of the Secular Change. 40 

Diurnal Variation. 47 

Annual Variation. 52 

Minor Periodic Fluctuations. 53 

Magnetic Storms. 53 

Magnetic Observatories. 56 

Magnetic Charts. 

Isogonic Lines. 62 

Magnetic Meridians. 63 

Magnetic Surveys. 

General Remarks. 65 

Historical Summary. 67 

Magnetic Survey of the United States. 70 

The Earth’s Magnetic Poles and Magnetic Moment. 

Magnetic Poles. 73 

Magnetic Moment. 76 

Determination of the True Meridian and the Magnetic Declination. 

Determination of the True Meridian. 

By Observations on Polaris. 79 

By Observations on the Sun. 92 

Determination of the Magnetic Declination. 

With an Ordinary Compass or Transit. 96 

With a Magnetometer. 96 

Diurnal Variation of Declination at Observatories :. ;... 100 


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ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FIGURES. 

Page. 

1. A Japanese South-pointing Cart (seventh century A. D.) . 13 

2. Floating Compass used by Peregrinus (1269). 19 

3. Double Pivoted Compass invented by Peregrinus (1269). 19 

4. Lines of Equal Magnetic Declination for 1500 (van Bemmelen). 23 

5. Compass Sun-dial showing Earliest Magnetic Declination at Paris (1541). 25 

6. First Dip Circle (Norman’s, 1576). 32 

7. Norman’s Experiment showing Action of the Earth on a Magnetic Needle. 33 

8. Comparison of the Secular Change Curves of the Magnetic Declination at various Stations 

in the Northern Hemisphere. 44 

9. Curves showing Secular Change in Magnetic Declination and Dip at London, Boston, and 

Baltimore. 45 

10. Comparison of Curve showing Change in Magnetic Declination and Dip along Parallel of 

Latitude 40° North in 1885, with Curve showing Secular Change at Rome. 46 

11. Diagram showing Diurnal Variation of the Magnetic Declination at Baldwin, Kansas., 1901.. 48 

12. Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetic Observatory at Cheltenham, Maryland. 57 

13. Eschenhagen Magnetograph at Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetic Observatory, Baldwin, 

Kansas. 59 

14. Magnetograms showing Guatemala Earthquake Disturbance at Cheltenham Magnetic 

Observatory, April 18, 1902... 60 

15. Magnetic Disturbance at Cheltenham Magnetic Observatory, April 10-11, 1902. 61 

16. Magnetic Disturbance at Cheltenham Magnetic Observatory at time of Martinique Vol¬ 

canic Eruption, May 8, 1902. 61 

17. Lines of Equal Magnetic Declination for 1600 (Hansteen) ..... 62 

18. “ “ “ “ “ “ 1700 (Halley). 62 

19. “ “ “ “ “ “ 1800 (Hansteen). 62 

20. “ “ “ “ “ “ 1858 (British Admiralty). 62 

21. “ “ “ “ “ “ 1905 ( “ “ ). 64 

22. “ “ “ “ Dip “ 1905 ( “ “ ). 64 

23. Magnetic Meridians for 1836 (Duperrey). 64 

24. Lines of Equal Magnetic Declination in the Polar Regions for 1885 (Neumayer). 64 

25. Mean Secular Change of the Magnetic Declination, 1890-1900 (Neumayer). 66 

26. Map of Region around North Magnetic Pole (Schott, 1890). 75 

27. Diagram of principal Stars in the Constellations Cassiopeia and Great Bear. 85 

28. Coast and Geodetic Survey Magnetometer. 97 


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PREFACE 


The present publication is the third reprint of the portions of United States Magnetic 
Declination Tables for 1902 0 giving the Principal Facts of the Earth’s Magnetism 
and Methods for Determining the True Meridian and the Magnetic Declination, the 
other two having been issued in 1909 and 1914. 

In the reprints the Polaris tables, pages 80 to 91, have been revised and extended 
to meet present requirements. Similar tables are now published annually in the 
American Ephemeris, w'hich are less abridged and so make possible results of a higher 
degree of accuracy. The remainder of the text is practically unchanged. Some 
modifications of the statements therein contained are given below. 

Under the heading “Discovery of the magnetic declination on land” (p. 25), it 
may now be added that since the appearance of Hellmann’s paper in 1897 Wolkenhauer 6 
has called attention to the existence of three sun-dial compasses made previous to the 
year 1492. The most interesting one of these, bearing the date 1451, has been examined 
and described by Hellmann c and strengthened his belief that the magnetic declina¬ 
tion on land was known before the first voyage of Columbus. In reviewing Hellmann’s 
paper, Bauer d has recently pointed out the possibility that “this additional find, 
valuable as it is, is simply another proof that while the divergence of the compass 
direction from the true meridian may have been noted, the divergence was not recognized 
at that time as a scientific fact , but as an error of the instrument .” 

In reference to the expedition of Capt. Roald Amundsen (p. 74), it may be said 
that an extended series of magnetic observations was made in the vicinity of the sup¬ 
posed location of the magnetic pole. The expedition also succeeded in making the 
Northwest Passage, reaching the Pacific coast of the United States by way of Bering 
Sea in the fall of 1906. The reduction of the observations has not yet (1919) been 
completed; at least no definite results have yet been announced. 

Much additional information has been obtained by the various Antarctic expedi¬ 
tions regarding the location of the south magnetic pole, but the results are not harmonious 
and suggest the possibility of local disturbance in that region. The Discovery expedi¬ 
tion under Capt. Scott, 1902 to 1904, made a large number of observations at the winter 

a United States Magnetic Declination Tables and Isogonic Charts for 1902, and Principal Facts 
Relating to the Earth’s Magnetism, by L. A. Bauer, Washington, 1902. Second Edition, Washington, 
D. C., 1903. 

*> Wolkenhauer, A. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Kartographie und Nautik des 15, bis 17, Jahr- 
hunderts, Inaug. Diss. Un. Gottingen, Munich, 1904. 

c Hellmann, G. Ueber die Kenntniss der magnetischen Deklination vor Christoph Columbus. 
Met. Zeits., April, 1906, pp. 145-149. 

d Bauer, L. A. Earliest Values of the Magnetic Declination. Terrestrial Magnetism, Vol. XIII, 
pp. 97-104. 


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8 


PREFACE. 


quarters and on various sledging expeditions, as well as on the Discovery, before she 
was frozen in. A discussion of all the declination observations gave as the probable 
position of the magnetic pole 72 0 50' S. and 156° 20' E., and of the dip observations 
the position 72 0 52' S. and 156° 30' E., a remarkably close agreement. 

Douglas Mawson, of Shackleton’s party, endeavored to reach the magnetic pole, 
and actually observed a dip of 89° 48' in January, 1909. By comparing this with the 
results of his previous observations he estimated the position of the pole as 72 0 25' S. 
and 155 0 16' E- 

Eric N. Webb, of the Australian Antarctic Expedition, made a large number of 
magnetic observations on the opposite side of the pole from Mawson, and on December 
21, 1911, reached a point (70° 36' S. and 148° 12' E.) which he believed to be on the 
edge of the polar area. His observations, however, indicate an irregular distribution 
of magnetism, and one is therefore inclined, to place more reliance on the Discovery 
and Mawson results. 

The table on page 47 showing the diurnal variation of declination at Baldwin, 
Kans., has been supplemented by tables at the end of the volume showing the change 
of declination at other observatories of this Bureau. The statement on page 57, regard¬ 
ing the magnetic observatories of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, requires modifica¬ 
tion. The Baldwin observatory was abandoned in the autum of 1909 and the instru¬ 
ments were transferred to a new observatory near Tucson, Ariz. An observatory was 
established at Vieques, P. R., in 1903. 

Regarding the magnetic survey of the United States referred to on page 72, it 
should be stated that the first general survey has been completed, observations having 
been made at nearly every county seat in the country, and considerable progress has 
been made in the more detailed investigation of locally disturbed areas. The results 
have been published annually, and the collected results of all observations to the end 
of 1915, together with iso-magnetic maps, were published in 1917 as Special Publica¬ 
tion No. 44. 


DEFINITIONS. 

To avoid the confusion arising from the use or misuse of the term “variation of 
the compass,” the following terms are used instead throughout this publication: 

Magnetic declination: The angle by which the compass needle points to the east 
or west of true north. 

Secular change of the magnetic declination: The change in the magnetic declination 
with the lapse of years. 


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PRINCIPAL FACTS RELATING TO THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


EARLY HISTORY OF THE COMPASS. 

Discovery of the Lodestone. 

Many centuries before the Christian era writers referred to a mysterious “stone” 
possessing remarkable properties, chief of which was its power to ‘ ‘ draw to it the all- 
conquering iron.” Its earliest names appear to be Hercules stone (heraclein stone), 
magnet-stone, Lydian stone, siderit (iron stone), and also briefly “stone.” Later the 
term “stone” and “Hercules stone” gave way to the name “magnet.” 

The precise derivation of the term “magnet,” which has now become the most 
common one, is difficult to ascertain. Lucretius (99-55 B. C.) says it was called 
* ‘ magnet ’ ’ from the place from which it was obtained—‘ ‘ in the native hills of the 
Magnesians.” However, Pliny (23-79 A. D.) relates a prettier legend, as copied from 
the poet Nicander (second century B. C.), that the shepherd, “Magnes” by name, 
while guarding his flock on the slopes of Mount Ida, suddenly found the iron ferrule 
of his staff and the nails of his shoes clinging to a “stone,” which became known 
after him as the ‘ ‘ Magnes stone ’ ’ or magnet. 

The fundamental property of the lodestone of attracting iron was certainly known to 
the Greeks toward the close of the seventh century B. C., as it is mentioned by Thales, 
who lived between 640-546 B. C. 

Magnetic mountains which caused ships to fall to pieces by drawing from their 
sides the iron nails, or, by disturbing the compass, caused to be dashed to pieces on the 
rocks the vessel that was unlucky enough to come within too close proximity to their 
influence, remained in the category of sea terrors until but a comparatively short 
time ago. 

In writings of the middle ages we find used for the term magnet ‘ * adames, ’ ’ which 
also meant diamond; e. g., in the oriental history of the Cardinal Jaques de Vitry, of 
about the year 1218. The Italian term was “calamita;” the Dutch, “ magnetsteen;” 
and “zehl-steen” (sailing stone); the Icelandic, “leider-steen” (lead stone), from which 
the English term of lodestone® is derived; the Hungarian, “magnet-ko” (magnet 
stone); the Polish, “magnes” and “magnet;” the Croatian, “zelezoolek” (which 
attracts iron); theDalmatian, “zoosdotegh” (which draws nails); theFrench, “aimant” 
(loving stone); the Spanish, “piedramant;” and the German, “magness,” “siegel- 
stein,” and “ magnetstein. ” The lodestone was also called by early English writers 
“adamant stone.” 

a Also spelled loadstone , the spelling used in this publication being the preferable one, however, 
as more clearly showing the derivation. 


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PRINCIPAL/ FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Klaproth remarks that nearly all of the European terms, as far as their significa¬ 
tion is concerned, recur in the Asiatic tongues. Thus the most common expression 
of the Chinese was “thsee schy’’ (or loving stone), hence similar to that of the 
French. For example, the author Tschlin-thsangkhi says: “The magnet draws to it 
the iron as the tender mother calls her children to her, and for this reason it has 
received its name of the loving stone.” Other Chinese terms for magnet were “tchu 
chi” (stone which deflects), “hie thy schy” (stone which unites with iron), etc. 

The lodestone or natural magnet is known to the geologist as the mineral ‘ ‘ mag¬ 
netite” and is the magnetic or black oxide of iron, Fe 3 0 4 , this oxide being formed 
when iron is oxidized at a high temperature in the air, in oxygen or in aqueous vapor. 
It is quite widely distributed over the earth, some of the most notable specimens 
coming from Magnet Cove, Arkansas. Its general color is blackish or brown and 
occasionally grayish, and its specific gravity is 5.0 to 5.1. 

Discovery of Polarity of Lodestone. 

Not only does the lodestone or magnetite possess the property to “draw” to it 
iron objects, but it also has that of “polarity,” i. e., it exhibits contrary effects at 
opposite ends, e. g., at one end it attracts the north end of a magnetic needle and 
at the other end repels it. 

By virtue of this polarity and the fact that the ‘ ‘ earth itself acts like a great 
magnet,” a lodestone pointed at the ends and suspended so as to turn freely will set 
itself in an approximately north-and-south direction. This “directive” tendency of 
the lodestone or needle was termed by Gilbert in 1600 its “verticity.” 

It is this property of polarity which distinguishes a piece of nonmagnetized iron 
from a magnetized one, the former attracting either end of a compass needle, while the 
latter will either attract or repel, according as the unlike “poles” or the like “poles” 
of magnet and needle are brought together. 

This property became known to European nations about the twelfth century. The 
Chinese are, however, generally credited with the earliest knowledge of the directive 
property of the lodestone and of its power to communicate polarity to iron. Tradition 
would even ascribe this knowledge to them as far back as the year 2634 before the 
Christian era. A quaint legend relates that in the sixty-fourth year of the reign of 
Ho-ang-ti (2634 B. C.), the Emperor, Hiuan-yuan, or Ho-ang-ti, attacked the rebel, 
Tchi-yeou, or Khiang, on the plains of Tchou-lou. Khiang getting the worst of the 
conflict, raised a-great fog in order to throw the ranks of his adversary into confusion. 
Hiuan-yuan, however, was equal to the occasion and constructed a chariot (Tchi-nan), 
which indicated the south , so as to distinguish the four cardinal points, and thus was 
enabled to pursue Khiang and take him prisoner , a 

Benjamin * * 6 considers this legend as “clearly mythical” and remarks that “while 
the beginning of Chinese history is placed by De Eacouperie at the twenty-third c en¬ 
tury B. C., other Chinese annalists regard it as impossible to rely upon any rec ords 

a Klaproth, Lettre & M. le Baron Humboldt sur l’invention de la Boussole, Paris, 1834. Also 

Mailla, Histoire g^nerdle de la Chine, tome I, p. 316, Paris, 1777. 

6 Intellectual Rise in Electricity, London, 1895; republished by Wiley & Sons, New York, in 1898, 
under the title of “ History of Electricity.” The writer has made considerable use of this work. 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


13 


dating back more than 800 years before our era. Eegge fixes the beginning of trust¬ 
worthy chronology at 826 B. C., and Plath at 841 B. C. It is apparent, therefore, that 
in dealing with the legends and traditions which form the basis for the assertion of 
knowledge of the magnet by the Chinese at very ancient epochs, the doubt whether 
they properly belong to mythology or to history is unavoidable. ’ ’ 

In Japan these south-pointing carts were known in the second half of the seventh 
century A. D. Figure 1 is a reproduction of a picture contained in Vol. XXIII of the 
large Japanese encyclopedia and taken from Urbanitzky’s book Electricitat im 
Alterthume, to which the writer is indebted for various references. 

Several other references to the compass have been cited as appearing in early Chi¬ 
nese records. The first direct statement as to their knowledge of the property of 
polarity is said to have occurred in a Chinese dictionary completed about 121 A. D., a 
period when at least the attractive properties of the 
lodestone had been known to European nations for six 
centuries and more. According to Benjamin, “this 
statement consists of but six Chinese characters in the 
dictionary Choue-Wen, where the character ‘Tseu’ is 
defined as * the name of a stone with which the needle 
is directed.’ Even this is known only by citations in 
later works. ’ ’ 

Whatever doubt may be raised regarding these 
early Chinese references, the fact is that the lodestone, 
or magnetite, is known to have existed in the iron 
deposits extensively worked in Shensi in 220 B. C., so 
that the Chinese had ample opportunities for becoming 
familiar with the properties of the lodestone. 

The first reference to the use of the compass for 
navigational purposes is found in the Chinese ency¬ 
clopedia, Poei-wen-yun-fou. It is said that under the 
Tsin dynasty, or between 265 and 419 A. D., “there 
were ships indicating the south. ’ ’ 

The most remarkable passage, however, occurring 
in the early Chinese literature is one toward the end of 
the eleventh century of the Christian era in a work entitled “ Mung-Khi-pi-than,’’ viz: a 

“The soothsayers rub a needle with a magnet stone, so that it may mark the 
£outh; however it declines constantly a little to the east. It does not indicate the south 
exactly. When this needle floats on the water it is much agitated. If the finger-nails 
touch the upper edge of the basin in which it floats they agitate it strongly; only it 
continues to slide, and falls easily. It is better in order to show its virtues in the best 
way to suspend it as follows: Take a single filament from a piece of new cotton and 
attach it exactly to the middle of the needle by a bit of wax as large as a mustard seed. 
Hang it up in a place where there is no wind. Then the needle constantly shows the 
south; but among such needles there are some which, being rubbed, indicate the north. 
Our soothsayers have some which show south and some which show north. Of this 



Fig. i.—A Japanese south-pointing cart 
(7th century A. D.). 


a Ed. Biot: Comptes rendus, t. XIX, p. 825. The passage is quoted from Benjamin’s book. 












i4 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


property of the magnet to indicate the south, like that of the cypress to show the 
west, no one can tell the origin.” 

According to Klaproth, the same fact is related in a natural history compiled by 
Kew-tsung-schy, in the years 1111-1117, under the title of Pen-thsao-yan-i, and it is 
stated that the “south end of the needle always shows a deviation toward the point 
‘ping,’ i. e., E. £ S.,” hence £ of 90° or 15 0 east of south, so that the north end 
pointed 15 0 west of north. 

Benjamin says “that the tendency of the magnetic needle to depart from the true 
north appears to have been observed by the Chinese geomancers in the compasses used 
by them long before any marine use of the instrument was made. A so-called life of 
Yi-hing, a Buddhist priest and imperial astronomer, undertakes to show that the 
‘variation’ in the eighth century was nearly 3 0 west of south. Later we find the 
geomancers adding special circles of symbols to the compass card, such as a circle of nine 
fictitious stars, a circle of sixty dragons, and so on, and, among these, circles of points 
especially constructed to allow for ‘ variation’. This was done in the year 900 by Yang 
Yi when the variation was 5 0 15' east of south, and again three centuries later when it 
had increased to 7 0 30'° in the same direction.” 

The Chinese apparently would have to be credited by these passages with a knowl¬ 
edge of the properties of the magnet far superior to that possessed at that period by the 
European nations. They seem not only to have known of the magnetic declination of 
the needle, by reason of which the needle did not point true north and south, but also 
to have anticipated Europeans by several centuries in the most delicate method of sus¬ 
pension of a needle by means of a fiber. The Jesuit Lana, according to Hansteen, is 
said to have introduced the fiber suspension in Europe about 1686. According to Prof. 
Sylvanus P. Thompson, however, the suspending of a magnetic needle by a thread 
occurs in the Speculum Lapidum of Camillus Leonardus, published at Venice in 1502. 

Klaproth, who made a special study of the early history of the compass, found “no 
indubitable use ’ ’ of the compass by the Chinese in navigation until toward the end of 
the thirteenth century, at which time it had been on European ships for a century or 
more. All efforts to satisfactorily account for the spread of the knowledge of the 
properties of the lodestone from Eastern to Western nations, or vice versa, have thus 
far failed. 6 

Summing up all the evidence, it would seem that the prime properties of the lode- 
stone—attraction, polarity, directivity—were doubtless discovered independently by the 
Chinese and by the occidental peoples and that the preponderance of evidence of priority 
at present would seem to be on the Chinese side. 

The Chinese undoubtedly were the first to use the compass in land journeys and in 
the orientation of buildings and sites. It is related that, in the early part of the four- 

o According to Klaproth, as cited above, this was 15 0 . 

&The number of points of the compass, according to the Chinese, is twenty-four, which are 
reckoned from the south pole; the form also of the instrument they employ is different from that 
familiar to Europeans. The needle is peculiarly poised, with its point of suspension a little below 
its center of gravity, and is exceedingly sensitive; it is seldom more than an inch in length and is 
less than a line in thickness. It appears thus sufficiently evident that the Chinese are not indebted 
to Western nations for their knowledge of the use of the compass. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th 
ed., art. Compass.) 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


15 

teenth century (1314-1320 A. D.) ( the temple of Yao-mu-ngan was oriented in this 
way. It is an interesting fact that they were guided by the south end of the needle, 
their name for compass being “ ting-nan-ching,” or needle pointing to the south. This 
was probably because in China the south is considered the honorable quarter, 
the Emperor taking his position facing south, and prominent buildings being placed 
facing south. To distinguish the south end of the needle from the north end it was 
painted red. 

Introduction of the Compass. 

The earliest definite mention at present known of the use of the compass in the 
Middle Ages occurs in a treatise entitled “De Utensilibus, ” written toward the end of 
the twelfth century by an English monk, Alexander Neckam. He says: 

‘ * The sailors, moreover, as they sail over the sea, when in cloudy weather they can 
not longer profit by the light of the sun, or when the world is wrapped in the darkness 
of the shades of night, and they are ignorant to what part of the horizon the prow is 
directed, place the needle ovei the magnet, which is whirled round in a circle, until, 
when the motion ceases, the point of it (the needle) looks to the north.” 

Soon after the introduction of the compass, laws were framed against the falsifying 
of the compass. One of the most common beliefs which prevailed for many centuries 
was known as the “ garlic myth,” and mariners were charged not to eat onions or garlic 
lest the odor “deprive the stone of its virtue by weakening it and prevent them from 
perceiving their correct course. ” a 

In a poem entitled “Love’s Complaint,” found by M. Paulin Paris, a distinguished 
antiquarian, in a MS. of 1329 which he attributed to William the Clerk, a vassal of 
Sire Rauf or Raul, who fought in the wars of Frederick I in Italy (1159 to 1177) 
appears the following description of the compass used at that time: 

Who would of his course be sure, 

When the clouds the sky obscure, 

He an iron needle must 
In the cork wood firmly thrust. 

Let the iron virtue lack 
Rub it with the lodestone black 
In a cup with flowing brim, 

Let the cork on water swim, 

When at length the tremor ends, 

Note the way the needle tends : 

Though its place no eye can see— 

There the polar star will be. 

Furthermore, in the preceding verse he appears to assign the cause for the north 
and south pointing of the needle to the attractive influence of the polar star, a belief 
current until Gilbert’s time (1600). 

a One of these laws was as follows: “ Whoever, being moved by sedition, shall menace the master 
or pilot of a ship with the sword, or shall presume to interfere with the nautical gnomon or compass, 
and especially, shall falsify the part of the lodestone upon which the guidance of all may depend, or 
shall commit like abominable crimes in the ship or elsewhere, shall, if his life be spared, be punished 
by having the hand which he most uses fastened, by a dagger or knife thrust through it, to the mast 
or principal timber of the ship, to be withdrawn only by tearing it free.” (Benjamin’s Intellectual 
Rise in Electricity.) 



i6 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Allusions to the compass among the early writers now began to multiply, e. g., 
Guyot de Provins, in a poem written 1203-1208, Cardinal de Vitry (1218), and others. 
In a poem by Guido Guinicelli, an Italian priest who died in 1276, the following 
suggestive lines occur: 

In what strange regions ’neath the polar star 
. May the great hills of massy lodestone rise, 

Virtue imparting to the ambient air 
To draw the stubborn iron; while afar 
From that same stone the hidden virtue flies 
To turn the quivering needle to the Bear, 

In splendor blazing in the Northern skies. 

Matthew Paris, in relating the sending of the first papal legate to Scotland in 1247, 
says he ‘ ‘ drew the money out of the Scots to himself as strongly as the adamant does 
iron.” 

In the middle of the thirteenth century the compass was in regular use among the 
Norwegians. 

Bacon appears to have had his attention directed to the lodestone, which he calls 
“the miracle of nature,” by Glanvil’s encyclopedic work, written about 1250. He 
says ‘ ‘ that the iron which is touched by the lodestone follows the part of the latter 
which excites it, and flies up from the other part, and that it turns to the part of the 
heavens to which the part of the magnet wherewith it was rubbed conforms. ’ ’ Further¬ 
more, ‘‘that it is not the polar star which influences the magnet, for if such were the 
case the iron would always be attracted toward the star; on the contrary, the rubbed 
portion of the iron will follow the rubbed part of the magnet in any direction, back¬ 
ward or forward, or to the right or left,” etc.® 

Improvement of the Compass by Petrius Peregrinus. 

We now turn to one of the most famous of the writings of the Middle Ages. Bacon 
in his ‘‘Opus tertium” says ‘‘there are but two perfect mathematicians, Master John 
of Condon and Master Petrius de Maharn, curia, a Picard.” Peter stands especially 
high in his estimation. He was the author of the famous letter known as ‘ ‘ Epistola 
Petri Peregrini de Maricourt ad Sygerum de Foucaucourt militem de Magnete. ” 

This letter ‘‘on the magnet,” written by the nobleman Pierre de Maricourt on 
August 12, 1269, to his friend and neighbor Syger de Foucaucourt, is probably the old¬ 
est European treatise on the magnet. The author’s surname ‘‘de Maricourt” is 
derived from a little village in Picardy, France, from whence he came. He is, however, 
more generally referred to as ‘‘Petrius Peregrinus,” the appellation of Peregrinus or 
Pilgrim indicating that he had taken part in the Crusades. He was a partisan of 
Charles of Anjou, who had been crowned King of the two Sicilies by Pope Urban IV, 
and who was laying siege for a second time to the town of Eucera, situated in the prov¬ 
ince of Apulia iu southern Italy. Under the walls of this town Peregrinus wrote his 
memorable “epistola,” which became known to many of the learned men of his time 
and succeeding centuries and had considerable influence on early writers on magnetism. 
It was reproduced in 1558 with an introduction and comments by Achilles Gasser, a 

«If this quotation be correct as taken from Benjamin, then the latter part of Bacon’s statement, 

‘ ‘ that the iron turns to the part of the heavens to which the part of the magnet wherewith it was 
rubbed conforms,” is incorrect. The contrary, as we shall see later, is the case. 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


17 

physician of Lindau, Germany, and again by subsequent authors, and more recently 
by Hellmann in his excellent series of Berlin reprints, “Neudrucke”—Rara Magnetica 
No. io. a 

Peregrinus was a man of learning, had the academic title of “ magister,” and, as 
stated, was regarded very highly by his contemporary, Roger Bacon. The deductions 
in his letter reveal in general a clear insight and sound reasoning powers. They are 
based usually on actual experiment, which doubtless accounts for the influence his lit¬ 
tle treatise exerted. 

Some of the facts which Peregrinus cites in his letter had been previously known. 
However, he appears to have had the faculty of putting them in precise language. A 
summary of the contents of the letter will be found in Benjamin’s book, from which 
the quotations below have been taken. 

Peregrinus, in direct contradiction to the earlier writers, who invariably preferred 
the lodestone from India, gives preference to the one from northern Europe, which was 
used principally by sailors in the northern seas. 

He explains how the poles of a magnet may be found, thus: 

‘ ‘ The stone is to be made in globular form and polished in the same way as are 
crystals and other stones. Thus it is caused to conform in shape to the celestial sphere. 
Now place upon it a needle or elongated piece of iron, and draw a line in the direction 
of the length of the needle, dividing the stone in two. Then put the needle in another 
place on the stone, and draw another line in the same way. This may be repeated with 
the needle in other positions. All of the lines thus drawn will run together in two * 
points, just as all the meridian circles of the world run together in two opposite poles 
of the world.” 

Peregrinus probably first found the poles in the way that is above described. 
Then, afterwards, he remarked that at the points so determined the needle was more 
strongly attracted than elsewhere. Consequently, he sees that the poles can be detected 
without marking the meridians by simply noting the places on the stones where the 
needle is most frequently and powerfully drawn. “If, however,” he continues, “you 
wish to be precise, break the needle so as to get a short piece about two nails in length. 
Place this on the supposed polar point. If the needle stands perpendicularly to the 
surface of the stone such point is the true pole; if not, then move the needle about 
until the place is found where it does thus stand erect. If these points are accurately 
ascertained and the stone is homogeneous and well chosen,” he adds, “they will be 
drawn diametrically opposite one another, like the poles of the sphere. ’ ’ 

If the Earth’s magnetism were uniformly distributed, Peregrinus’s method of 
‘ ‘ converging magnetic meridians ’ ’ could be applied to determine with greater accuracy, 
and certainly with more comfort, the position of the Earth’s magnetic poles than by 
specially equipped expeditions to the arctic and antarctic regions. It would suffice 
to select a few well-chosen stations in easily accessible and climatically comfortable 
regions, to determine accurately the magnetic declination of the needle at these points, 
and to determine by an easy computation the points of intersection of the great circles 
passing through the compass directions at the selected stations. It will be seen, 

a Sparing as Gilbert is in conceding the excellence of any work on magnetism prior to his own, 
the “ De Magnete” of 1600, he characterizes Peregrinus’s work “as a pretty erudite book, considering 
the time.” 


121220°—19-2 




i8 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


however, that owing to the great irregularity in the distribution of the Earth’s 
magnetism this method is not admissible, and would give positions for the magnetic 
poles differing considerably from the actual positions. 

Peregrinus next explains how to designate the two poles and to distinguish them 
from each other. 

“Take,” says Peregrinus, “a wooden vessel, round, like a dish or platter, and 
put the stone in it so that the two points of the stone may be equidistant from the 
edge; then put this in a larger vessel containing water, so that the stone may float like 
a sailor in a boat. The stone so placed will turn in its little vessel until the north pole 
of the stone will stand in the direction of the north pole of the heavens, and the south 
pole in that of the south pole of the heavens; and if it be removed from this position, 
it will return thereto by the will of God. Since the north and south parts of the 
heavens are known, so will they be known in the stone, because each part of the stone 
will turn itself to its corresponding part of the heavens.” 

Then, ‘ ‘ If the north part of the stone, which you hold, be brought to the south 
part of the stone floating in the vessel, the floating stone will follow the stone you hold, 
as if wishing to adhere to it; and, if the south part of the held stone be brought to the 
north part of the floating stone, the same thing will happen. Know it, therefore, as a 
law, ’ ’ he says, ‘ ‘ that the north part of one stone attracts the south fart of another stone , 
and the south the north .” 

We thus have a recognition of the well-known fact that unlike magnetic poles 
attract each other and while Peregrinus does not explicitly state the additional fact 
that like poles repel each other, it stands to reason that in the course of his experi¬ 
ments the fact of repulsion of like poles must likewise have manifested itself to him, 
especially, as it was known to his master, Bacon. However, it was customary for the 
early writers to speak simply of the “ attractive virtue of the magnet.” 

It will be noticed that Peregrinus designated that part of the lodestone which 
points to the north as the north end or pole, and that part which is directed to the south, 
the south pole. He says, ‘ ‘ You will infer what part of the iron is attracted to each part 
of the heavens from knowing that the part of the iron which has touched the southern 
part of the magnet is turned to the northern part of the sky. The contrary will happen 
with respect to that end of the iron which has touched' the north part of the stone, 
namely, it will direct itself towards the south. ’ ’ 

This is the first clear and accurate statement regarding the character of the poles 
induced in the ‘ ‘ iron ” by its “ touch ’ ’ with the ‘ ‘ magnet ’ ’ or lodestone, and the quarter 
of the heavens to which each pole will point, if the iron be freely suspended.® It will 
be noted that Bacon’s statement (p. 16) is just the reverse of that of Peregrinus. 

According to the laws of magnetism, the part of the iron touched by the magnet 
or lodestone will have induced in it a magnetic pole of an opposite kind to that in the 
end of the magnet used. Furthermore, since like poles repel and unlike ones attract 
each other, it is manifest that if the north end of a compass is called the north pole, the 
magnetism in the northern regions of the earth must be of the south pole kind, other¬ 
wise we should have repulsion instead of attraction. Or, if in the north end of the 
compass there resides magnetism of the south pole kind, then the earth’s north magnetic 

«Benjamin, thinking that Peregrinus had committed an error in his statement, offers various 
apologies for him. 




PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


!9 


pole has magnetism of the north pole kind. To avoid this confusion the north end of 
the compass is frequently referred to as “the north-seeking or north-pointing end,” 
and the south end as the “south-seeking or south-pointing end.’’ The part of the 
“iron,” then, which touches the north-seeking end of the magnet will have magnetism 
of the south-seeking kind induced in it, and will point or be attracted to the south 
when the iron is delicately supported, and the part which is rubbed by the south-seeking 
end of the magnet has induced in it a pole of the north-seeking kind and hence will 
point to the north. 



The chief achievement of Percgrinus was his improvement of the mariner's compass , 
which at that time was a very crude contrivance indeed, the magnet being supported by 
a reed floating in a vessel of water, and provided neither with an index to reckon from 
nor with a compass card. He combined the compass with the nautical astrolabe for 
measuring the sun’s altitude, provided a fiducial line, or the so-called “lubber’s point,” 
and a graduated scale, thus enabling the mariner not only to steer his ship more truly, 
but likewise to determine the azimuth of a heavenly body. At first he floated his 
compass, but later introduced for the first time the pivoted or, rather, socketed 

compass, the description of which, as given by Benjamin, is as 
follows: 

‘ ‘ The floating bowl and the large vessel of water are abol¬ 
ished, and in place of them there is the ordinary circular com- 


Fig. 2.—Floating compass used 
by Peregrinus (1269). 


Fig. 3.—Double-pivoted compass invented by Peregrinus (1269). 


pass box of to-day. Its edges are marked as those of the bowl were—with the degree 
of the circle. It is covered with a plate of glass. In the center of the instrument, and 
stepped in the glass coyer and in the bottom of the box, is a pivot, through which passes 
the compass needle, now no longer an ovoid lodestone, but a true needle of steel or iron. 
Then at right angles to this needle is another needle, which, curiously enough, he says is 
to be made of silver or copper. Pivoted above the glass cover is an azimuth bar, as before, 
with sight pins at the ends. Now, he says, you are to magnetize the needle by means of 
the lodestone in the usual way, so that it will point north and south, and then the azi¬ 
muth bar is to be turned on its center so as to be directed toward the sun or heavenly 
bodies, and in this way, of course, the azimuth is easily measured. In fact, the device 
is the azimuth compass of the present time. ‘By means of this instrument,’ says 
Peregrinus, ‘ you may direct your course toward cities and islands and all other parts 
of the world, either on land or at sea, provided you are acquainted with the longitudes 
and latitudes of those places. ’ ’ ’ 

Figure 2 represents the floating compass used by Peregrinus, and figure 3 his 
double-pivoted compass. Both figures have been directly reproduced from the memoirs 
on Peregrinus by Bertelli, who made the subject a special study. 






































20 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


It will be noticed that Peregrinus had in this compass all the devices necessary for 
ascertaining whether the magnetic needle pointed precisely to the north, or declined 
away from the north; however, he does not seem to have noticed any such departure. 
He would be especially interested in this, as he supposed that “from the poles of the 
world the poles of the magnet received their virtue.” That he did not remark any 
declination indicates pretty strongly that the needle did not, at that time, point very 
far from north, so that if he did observe any departure, the smallness of the amount 
doubtless led him to ascribe it to imperfection of construction of his compass. A 
similar conclusion has been reached by the writer from other researches. At present 
the needle points about g° west in southern Italy. 

Peregrinus was credited by Thevenot in 1681 with having found a magnetic decli¬ 
nation of 5 0 east in 1269, but Wenckebach’s researches showed that this was an inser¬ 
tion in the Leyden manuscript of his “epistola,” made in the early part of the sixteenth 
century, about which time the needle did actually point that amount at Rome. (See 
Table I.) Thevenot had likewise erroneously ascribed the authorship of this famous 
letter to ‘ ‘ Peterus Adsigerus. ’ ’ 

Recapitulating, Peregrinus may be accredited with very notable discoveries and 
achievements, chief of which are: 

1. The mode of locating and distinguishing the magnetic poles of a magnet. 

2. The method of touch and rubbing for reversing the polarity of a magnet and 
the fact that a magnet can be broken into any number of fragmentary pieces, each of 
which will be a magnet. 

3. The first attempt at an azimuth compass, and the introduction of a mode of 
pivot suspension of the needle. 

Improvement of the Compass by Feavio Gioja. 

The contents of Peregrinus’s letter did not become widely known, the few manu¬ 
script copies which had been made by the early monks lying buried in the monasteries 
until the sixteenth century, and so it happened that many of his discoveries were 
rediscovered. 

In Peregrinus’s pivoted compass the needle passed through a vertical shaft pivoted 
in the top and bottom of the compass, so that the shaft and needle turned together. 
In the modern compass, as is known, the compass needle turns on a fixed point. 
Furthermore, his compass lacked the modern subdivision of the circle into thirty-two 
points or the so-called ‘ ‘ Rose of the Winds. ’ ’ 

Flavio Gioja, who came from Positano in the hills back of Amalfi, Italy, is credited 
with the invention of the mariner’s compass some time prior to 1318 (about 1302). 
Thus, Anthony of Bologna, in the latter part of the fourteenth century, writes that 
“Amalfi first gave to seamen the use of the magnet.” It is considered probable that 
Gioja introduced the compass card of thirty-two points, or ‘ ‘ Rose of the Winds, ’ ’ the 
mode cf pivot suspension whereby the needle turns on a fixed point, and the attaching 
of the card to the compass needle, thus adding greatly to the usefulness of the compass 
at sea. The earliest maps having the “ Rose of the Winds” are Genoese, of about the 
year 1318. During the summer of 1901 the invention of the mariner’s compass by 
Gioja was celebrated at Amalfi by the Italians. 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


21 


The character of the compass used in Mediterranean waters in the fourteenth 
century is seen from a statement of Da Buti’s in 1380: “The navigators have a 
compass, in the middle of which is pivoted a wheel of light paper which turns on its 
pivot, and that on this wheel the needle is fixed and the star (Rose of the Winds) 
painted.” The adoption of this compass by the English did not apparently take place 
for some time, as Chaucer does not mention until 1391 the division of the compass circle 
into 32 points instead of 24 points. 

DERIVATION OF THE WORD “COMPASS.” 

The following quotation is from Prof. J. A. Fleming’s lecture on ‘ ‘ The Earth a 
Great Magnet,” delivered at Bristol, England, in 1898: 

The word compass is an old English word, signifying a circle. ‘ My green bed 
embroidered with a compass ’ is mentioned in the will of Edward, Duke of York, who 
died in 1415. 

‘ ‘ The well-known instrument for describing a circle is called a compass or pair of 
compasses. To encompass means to surround as by a circle, and most of you at some 
time or another have seen a public house with the sign of the ‘ Goat and the compasses, ’ 
which antiquarians tell us is only a corruption of the old pious house motto, ‘God 
encompasses us.’ Hence the magnetic instrument takes its familiar name from the 
circle of degrees or points which Peregrinus or Gioja added to enable it to indicate the 
angular distance of an object from the meridian.” 

VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. 

Under the initiative of Prince Henry of Portugal—Henry the Navigator—who 
founded a naval college, corrected charts, improved compasses, and made other advances 
in navigation, the compass played an important part in the great voyages of discovery 
of the fifteenth century. No important discovery relating to the compass resulted, 
however, until the memorable voyage of Columbus in 1492. Before passing to this 
mention should be made of the former compass charts toward the close of the fourteenth 
century and the first half of the fifteenth. 

Compass Charts. 

The early charts of the Mediterranean coasts of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries were oriented by the compass and all bearings from one port to another were 
compass directions; hence these charts are known as “compass charts.” It will be 
recalled that at their date the magnetic declination of the compass had not become 
known; it was believed that the compass pointed “true to the north pole,” and that, 
hence, compass directions were also true directions. If a compass showed any marked 
departure from the true north this was accredited to mechanical imperfection in its 
construction. 

The earliest of these charts were by Marino Sanuto, between 1306 and 1324. 
The best, however, are those in the atlas of Andrea Bianco of the year 1436 and this atlas 
has been subjected to a critical examination by Oscar Peschel.® He found that in spite 

«Der Atlas des Andrea Bianco vom Jahre 1436, in zehn Tafeln. Photographische Facsimile in 
der Grosse des Originals, vollstandig lierausgegeben von Max Munster und mit einem Vorworte 
versehen von Oscar Peschel. Venedig, H. F. M. Munster, 1869. 



22 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


of the crude appliances in use at that date the distances from place to place harmonized 
with later, more accurate determinations in a most remarkable manner, but the places 
were not always in their proper parallels of latitude, their departure therefrom varying 
in a perfectly systematic manner. Thus two places on the west Mediterranean coast 
were in the same parallel of latitude as places on the east Mediterranean coast, which 
as a matter of fact are situated in lower latitudes. In other words, the places had been 
plotted according to magnetic meridians and parallels. By measuring the angle for 
Rome, through which the chart a had to be turned in an ENW. direction, in order 
that the various places would fall in their proper geographic parallels, the writer found 
that the magnetic decimation at Rome was about g° East in 14.36 {or more likely 
before , since the charts were jmdoubtedly constructed from data obtamed during many years 
prior to date of publication , 1436). This is the earliest information at present obtainable 
regarding the amou?it of the magnetic declination in Europe. 

BIRTH OF THE SCIENCE OF TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. 

Discovery of the Magnetic Declination at Sea. 

That the needle pointed ‘ ‘ true to the pole ’ ’ of the heavens or to the pole star had 
been, as we have seen, the general belief up to the close of the fifteenth century. It 
remained for the terrorized sailors on Columbus’s first voyage to the New World to 
be made aware of the next great fact of the Earth’s magnetism, viz, that the needle 
changes its direction from place to place and points exactly north and south over but 
a very limited region of the Earth. 

It will be recalled that after leaving Palos Columbus set sail for Gomera, one 
of the Canary Islands, whence he laid his course due west. Not many days out 
from Gomera, on September 13, 1492, to the great consternation of the sailors, it was 
noticed that ‘ ‘ at the first of the evening of this day the needles varied to the NW., and 
the next morning about as much in the same direction. * * * September 17 the 

pilot took the sun’s amplitude and found that the needle varied to the NW. a whole 
point of the compass. The seamen were terrified and dismayed, without saying why. 
The admiral discovered the cause and directed them to take the amplitude again next 
morning, when they found that the needles were true. The cause was that the star 
moved from its place, while the needles remained stationary.” * 6 

Before this time, as will be seen from Fig. 4, which gives the lines of equal magnetic 
declination for 1500, as recently drawn by van Beminelen, the compass had pointed a 
few degrees east of north, but the amount, about 3 0 at Palos and at Gomera, was too 
small to attract special attention, and if it had it would have been attributed to an 
imperfection in the construction of the compass. The compasses used were doubtless 
divided into points (11 ]f°) and half points, allowing quarter points (about 3 0 ) to be 
estimated. (In Fig. 4 the minus sign means east declination.) 

After leaving Gomera the easterly declination of the compass, it will be seen, 
steadily diminished, until about September 13, when it was observed in the evening to 

«Bianco’s chart in E. Mayer’s “Die Entwickelung der Seekarten, Wien, 1877” was used. 

& Personal Narrative of the First Voyage of Columbus to America, translated by Samuel Kettell. 
Published by Thomas B. Wail & Son, Boston; G. C. Carvill, New York, and Carey & Lea, Philadel¬ 
phia, 1827. 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


23 


pass from east to west. According to Schott’s computation,® the flagship of Columbus 
was at noon on September 13, 1492, in north latitude 28° 21', and in longitude 29 0 16' 
west of Greenwich. This position is probably not far from the place through which 
the line of no magnetic declination—the so-called agonic line—along which the needle 
did stand “true to the pole,’’ passed at that date. This line, as is seen from Fig. 4, lay 
a little to the west of Fayal Island of the Azores. 

It will be noticed from the above extracts that on September 17 Columbus had 
gone far enough west of this line to have had the compass bear a whole point (n^°) 
to the west. That the next morning “the needles were true again” is inexplicable, 
except that in order to allay the fears of his sailors he practiced some pardonable decep¬ 
tion on them, and may possibly have changed the points of the compass, as he had done, 
according to his own confession, once before on another voyage, in order to force the 
inclination of a possibly mutinous crew to his will. 



The explanation which Columbus gave for the departure of the needles observed 
between September 13 and 17, that the North Star moved in its place, while the needles 
remained stationary, was, of course, a mere fiction to quiet the apprehensions of his 
crew. Columbus, according to the history written by his son, believed, as did Pere- 
grinus and Bacon, that the needle was attracted or directed not by the Pole Star, but 
by all points of the heavens. 

According to Schott’s investigations, it would seem that toward the end of Sep¬ 
tember, when about in midocean, the needle had reached its maximum westerly pointing; 
thereafter it continued to diminish, until at the first landing place of Columbus, which, 
according to the researches of Lieut. J. B. Murdock, 6 of the United States Navy, appears 
unquestionably to have occurred at Watlings Island, the needle bore but a trifle west. 

a See Appendix No. 19, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1880, p. 5, and 
Appendix No. 7, report for 1888, p. 305. 

b 1 * The Cruise of Columbus in the Bahamas, 1492. ’ ’ Proceedings of the U. S. Naval Institute 
No. 30, Annapolis, April, 1884. 




















24 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Columbus himself does not mention the declination of the compass after Sep¬ 
tember 17, nor does he say anything about the behavior of the compass on his 
return voyage, nor does he record anything regarding the compass on his second vo3 r age 
(1493-1496), nor on the fourth (1502-1504). However, on the third voyage (from 
1498 to 1500), he writes as follows: 

“I remarked that from north to south in traversing these hundred leagues (300 
geographical miles) from the said islands (Azores) the needle of the compass, which 
hitherto had turned toward the NE., turned a full quarter of the wind to the NW., 
and this took place from the time we reached that line.” a 

Continuing, he says, “ For in sailing thence (from the Azores) westward the ship 
went on rising smoothly toward the sky and then the weather was felt to be milder, on 
account of which mildness the needle shifted one point of the compass; the further we 
went the more the needle went to the NW., this elevation producing the variation of 
the circle which the North Star describes with its satellites. ’ ’ b 

A second point in the line of no magnetic declination, situated farther north than 
the one of Columbus, was found by Sebastian Cabot and dates from 1497 or 1498. He 
found, when on the meridian no miles west of the island of Flores, one of the Azores, 
and in latitude approximately 46° or 47°, that he was in a position where the needle 
had “no variation.” c 

This line along which the needle pointed exactly to the north, one point of which 
had been discovered by Columbus and another by Sebastian Cabot, was believed to be 
a convenient line, “given by nature herself,” from which to reckon longitude, especially 
as it almost passed through the place from which longitude was then reckoned, and it 
figured prominently for many years in political geography as the line of demarcation 
between the rival kingdoms of Portugal and Castile. It can be seen, however, by 
referring to Fig. 4, that this line does not coincide with a true meridian and that it is 

a Select letters of Columbus, 2d edition, translated and edited by H. Major, Loudon, 1870; printed 
for the Hakluyt Society, pp. 131, 135. 

Regarding this passage Schott (App. 19, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1880, p. 414) 
says: “ It is evident that the extract from the third voyage is but an amplification of his first account, 
and expresses his conviction that west of the Azores, where the declination was a little easterly, it 
changed to the westward, being nearly zero at Corvo, and gradually increasing to one point or ix° W. 
at a distance of 300 nautical miles west of the longitude of Corvo. The position of Rosario, on the 
southeast part of the island of Corvo, is, according to the Carta Esferica de las Islas Azores, Madrid, 1855, 
in latitude 39 0 41' and longitude 24 0 53'' west of San Fernando, or in 31 0 07' west of Greenwich 
(according to the Conn, des Temps); 100 leagues or 300 nautical miles west of this longitude would 
correspond (in latitude 28°) to 5 0 40' and would bring the Columbus line in longitude 36° 47' W.” 

«In App. 7, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey R.eport for 1888, p. 305, second footnote, Schott 
says: “Soon after the discovery by Columbus of a point of no variation in the Atlantic, "Sebastian 
Cabot discovered a second one farther north and evidently belonging to the same agonic curve. Livio 
Sanuto states in his Geographica Distincta (Venice, 1588) that he procured the information from 
Sebastian Cabot and made use of his map (probably that composed in 1544), on which the position of 
the meridian intersecting the point of no variation was seen to be 110 miles to the west of the island 
of Flores, one of the Azores; see Narrative and Critical History of America, by Justin Winsor, Vol. Ill, 
Boston and New York, 1884, p. 41. This discovery was probably made on the second voyage of the 
Cabots, in 1498, although it may have been noted in the first, 1497, by the elder Cabot. The latitude 
of the point is uncertain, but may be approximated from the fact that in the first voyage land was 
apparently sighted at Cape Breton, and in the second the coast of New Foundland (Baccalaos), which 
is said to have been made from the north,” 



PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


25 

moreover a very devious and variable line, ever changing its course and form with the 
lapse of time. 

Thus by the end of the fifteenth century the two new facts that the compass needle docs 
not, in general, point true north or south, but a certain amount east or west, and that the 
amount varies with locality , had become known among western nations; Columbus mtist be 
credited with their discovery. a The necessity for measuring the angle of pointing of the 
needle thus became apparent in 14.92, and hence this must be regarded as the year of birth 
of the science of terrestrial magnetis?n, which has for its special object the measurement of 
the earth's magnetic elements. 


Discovery of the Magnetic Declination on Dand. 

According to Hellmann, 6 “It was the construction of sundials that first brought 
those on land to a true perception of the declination of the magnetic needle from the 



Fig. 5.—Compass sun-dial showing earliest magnetic declination at Paris (1541). 


astronomical meridian ’ ’ and ‘ ‘ not the discovery of Columbus, of which nothing appeared 
in print. ’ ’ In the early part of the sixteenth century the quaint old German town of 
Nuremburg was quite a center for the manufacture of sundials provided with magnetic 
needles, which found a ready market not only in Germany but in many other countries 
and were widely used. 

One of the most famous of these ‘ ‘ compass makers, ’ ’ as the makers of these com¬ 
pass sundials were called, was Georg Hartmann, who lived in Nuremburg from the 

a Columbus is generally credited merely with the discovery of the second fact, viz, the change of 
the magnetic declination from place to place. However, no satisfactory evidence has thus far come 
to light, as has been shown, that the first fact was known before his time, except apparently among 
the Chinese. 

b “The Beginnings of Magnetic Observations,” by G. Hellmann, Journal Terrestrial Magnetism, 
Vol. IV, pp. 73-86. 











































































26 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


year 1518 until liis death, serving as vicar of the famous church of St. Sebaldus. 
Hartmann lived in Rome about 1510 and appears to have made there the first observa¬ 
tion of the magnetic declination on land, finding that the magnetic needle pointed at 
Rome 6° east of north. Apparently he did not make known this discovery until in a 
letter written March 4, 1544, to Count Albert of Prussia. In his letter he also says 
that at Nuremburg the needle points io° and “at other places more or less.” 

Fig. 5 is a reproduction of an ivory sundial found by Le Monnier 0 in the collec¬ 
tion of Prince de Conti and constructed by Hieronymus Bellarmartus. It shows that 
the needle at Paris pointed in 1541 about 7 0 east—this being the oldest known value at 
Paris. 

Early Methods for Determining the Magnetic Declination and the 
Earliest Values on Eand. 

The earliest method was that used by Columbus of noting the magnetic bearing of 
the Pole Star. A Sevillian apothecary", Felipe Guillen, devised an instrument which 
he presented to the King of Portugal, Joao III, in 1525, and which he termed ‘‘ brujula 
de variation .” By means of this instrument the declination was determined by noting 
with the aid of the shadow thrown by a stylus, the magnetic bearing of the Sun at 
equal altitudes before and after noon; the half difference of the bearings was the decli¬ 
nation. 

The first one who published useful methods for determining the magnetic declina¬ 
tion appears to have been Francisco Falero b in 1535. In Hellmann’s ‘ ‘ Rara Magnetica ’ ’ 
is reproduced the special chapter on this subject entitled “Del Nordestear de la 
Agujas.’’ According to Hellmann, in Falero's book is found the first reference in print 
to the magnetic declination. 

He gives the following three methods for its determination: (1) Magnetic bearing 
of Sun at apparent noon when the shadow of the stylus falls to the north; (2) Guillen’s 
method, and (3) magnetic bearing of Sun at sunrise and sunset. 

In 1537 Pedro Nunes improved Guillen’s instrument, adding the means for meas¬ 
uring the Sun’s altitude and inventing a new method for the determination of latitude 
at any time of day. 

The first fairly extensive series of carefully made declinations at sea is due to Joao 
de Castro, who in 1538 commanded one of eleven ships sent to the East Indies by the 
Infanta Dom Euiz and who later became the fourth vice king of India. He diligently 
made magnetic, meteorological, and hydrographic observations on the entire voyage/ 

The first treatise published on the subject in England was that of W. Borough: 
“A Discours of the Variation,’’ London, 1581, annexed to Norman’s “Newe Attract¬ 
ive,’’ and republished with it three times (1585, 1596, and 1614). The methods 
in principle are Falero’s. Borough gives in this book his observations for deter¬ 
mining the magnetic declination at London (Limehouse), on October 16, 1580, being 

o-Le Monnier: “ Histoire de l’Acad&nie Royale de Sciences,” Ann£e, 1771, p. 29. The cut is 
reproduced from Hellmann’s article cited above. 

GTratado del Esphera y del arte del marear, Sevilla, 1535. 

«The most recent collection and utilization of the values will be found in van Bemmelen’s “ Die 
Abweichung der Magnetnadel,” Batavia, 1899. 



PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


27 

doubtless the first observations printed in detail. He deduced from these a value of 
ii° 15' E. rt 

The first collection of values (42) of the magnetic declination of the sixteenth 
century, which, however, was far from being complete, was contained in Simon Stevin’s 
De Havenvinding,” published in Dutch, at Leyden, in 1599 . b This was translated 
into Latin by Hugo de Groot (Grotius) under the title of “ AiperTpeTiKp sive portuum 
investigandorum ratio,” and likewise published in 1599. It was translated by 
Edward Wright into English and published separately, and also appended to the third 
edition of his Errors in Navigation; the table of declinations had appeared already 
in the second edition of his work. The following definition of the magnetic declination 
taken from Grotius’s translation is of interest: ‘‘Declinatio magneticae a Septentrione 
ad Orientem, avarXiGpog vocatur, Occidentem versus dvaiapos, et nomine universali 
Xat\i/ 3 oK\i(jis: xaiXvfioKXiffis 0 ante et opOofiopeodtigis generali x a ^ v fl° 3 ei£;€G)s 
nomine appellantur.” 

It will be seen that he used the term ‘ ‘ magnetic declination ’ ’ to denote what 
Norman, Borough, and, later, Gilbert termed as “variation of the compass.^ The 
same writers used the word ‘ ‘ declination ’ ’ to denote what is now known as dip or 
“inclination.” Because of this confusion of terms, careful scrutiny of the early refer¬ 
ences regarding ‘ ‘ declination ’ ’ is necessary. Instead of Grotius’s terms, ‘ ‘ anatolismos’ ’ 
for east declination and “dusismos” for west declination, the Dutch original has 
“Ostering” and “Westering,” respectively, whereas Wright uses “variation west” 
and ‘ ‘ variation east. ’ ’ The terminology of Grotius was extensivelv used by the seven¬ 
teenth century authors of works on magnetism in the Latin language. Stevin’s inter¬ 
esting little work owed its origin to the patronage of Count Moritz of Nassau, admiral 
of the Dutch fleet, who saw the great importance in navigation of accurate knowledge 
of the magnetic declination. 

Table I represents an attempt to collect the values of the magnetic declination up 
to the year 1600, inclusive, for places on land or in its vicinity, for which the year of 
observation is known or for which it is possible to assign an approximate date. As 
the fact of the secular change of the magnetic declination did not become known until 
the next century, it was not customary to affix a date to an observation/ The sign 
± in the table means that the date is approximate. The values obtained with sea 
compasses require careful scrutiny, as these compasses were frequently shifted to allow 
for the supposed variation or “error” of the needle. Thus, Robert Norman, instru- 

« Actual mean was n° 18' or nearly 1x^3°, the quantity given by Gilbert in the “De Magnete.” 
Both Norman and Borough persistently give n° is'. Gellibrand later recalculated Borough’s obser¬ 
vations, making allowance for atmospheric refraction, and deduced a mean value of ii° i6 / . (See 
“ Walker’s Terrestrial and Cosmical Magnetism,” 1866.) 

b The table of values was obtained by Stevin from the cartographer P. Plancius, who is said to 
have entered them on a globe or a chart completed in 1592. Hence they refer to dates prior to 1592. 

fFrom x a ^ v ' 4 > (genitive, ytrAu/jog), steel, and kXiveiv, to decline, hence, declination of the 
magnet. 

d The term ‘ ‘ variation ’ ’ may have been derived from Guillen, who termed his instrument for 
determining it “brujula de variacion.” (See p. 26.) 

e “And although this variation of the needle be found in Trauell to be divers and changeable, yet at 
any land or fixed place assigned it remaineth always one, still permanent and abyding.” R. Norman, 

‘ The Newe Attractive,” 1581. 




28 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


ment maker, in 1581, says: “Of the common Sayling Compasses, I find heere (in 
Europa) five sundry sortes or sets”—according to the amount of correction allowed 
for by different makers. Thus, “by the Isle of Saint Michaell in the Acorres,” he 
found “that the North poynt of the common compass, showeth the Pole very neere 
in that Meridian , but the bare Needle sheweth about 4 Degrees 50 Minutes to the 
Eastwards of the Pole.” 

It was not until the close of the sixteenth century that the 1 ‘ variation from the 
true north ’ ’ came to be generally accepted as an actual fact of nature and not one to 
be accredited to the imperfection of the construction of the compass. 

Table I.— Earliest values of the magnetic declinatio?i up to 1600 for places on land or in 

its vicinity. a 


No. 

Date. 

• 

Place. 

Country. 

Latitude. 

Longitude. 

Magnetic 

Declina¬ 

tion. 

Authority or observer. 





O / 

O f 

O / 


I 

1436 (prior) 

Rome 

Italy 

4 i 54 N 

12 27 E 

65 E 

L. A. Bauer from Com¬ 
pass Charts 

2 

i 5 i°± 

do. 

do. 

41 54 N 

12 27 E 

6 E 

Georg Hartmann 

3 

15184= 

Bay of Guinea 

Africa 



(u* E) 

Piero di Giovanni 
d’Antonio di Dino 

4 

15204= 

Vienna 

Austria 

48 15 N 

16 21 E 

4 E 

Johann Georg Tann- 
stetter (Rheticus) 

5 

1523 (?) 

Landshut (?) 

Germany 



9 E 

Petrus Apianus 

6 

15324 = 

Ingolstadt 

do. 



10 30 E 

Do. 

7 

1534 

Dieppe 

France 

49 56 N 

1 05 E 

10 E 

Francois or Crignon 

8 

1537 

Florence 

Italy 



9 E 

Mauro (Sphera vol- 
gare novamente tra- 
dotta. Venetia, 1537, 
4°, fol. 53a) 

9 

1538 

Nuremburg 

Germany 



10 15 E 

Georg Hartmann 

10 

1538, April 

Lisbon 

Portugal 

38 42 N 

9 oS W 

7 3 ° E 

Joao de Castro 

II 

1538, Aug. 10 

Mozambique 

Africa 

15 02 S 

40 46 E 

6 45 E 

Do. 

12 

I 539 ± 

Dantzig 

Germany 



13 E 

Georg Joachim Rhe¬ 
ticus 

13 

1541 

Paris 

France 

48 52 N 

2 20 E 

7 E 

Hieronymus Bellar- 
matus 

14 

15444 = 

Nuremburg 

Germany 



10 E 

Georg Hartmann 

15 

15464 : 

Island Walcheren 

Holland 



9 E 

Gerhard Mercator 

l6 

1550 

Paris 

France 

48 52 N 

2 20 E 

8 E 

Orontius Finaeus 

17 

1556, July 17 

Petchora R. (mouth) 

Russia 

69 10 N 

55 °° E 

3 30 w 

Stephen Borough 

18 

1556, July 27 

Nova Zembla(S.coast) 

do. 

70 42 N 

57 3° E 

7 3 ° W 

Do. 

19 

1556, Aug. 6 

Vaigatch I. (coast) 

do. 

70 25 N 

59 00 E 

8 00 W 

Do. 

20 

1557 

Kholmogery 

do. 

64 25 N 

41 50 E 

5 10 E 

Do. 

21 

1557 . June 2 

Dogsnose (2 miles on 
shore to northward) 

do. 

65 47 N 

40 00 E 

4 00 E 

Do. 

22 

1557June 16 

Kola Peninsula 

do. 

66 59 N 

39 3 ° E 

3 3 ° E 

Do. 

23 

1569 

Bockstein 

Austria 

47 °5 N 

13 °7 E 

15 00 E 

[Doppler’s collection] 

24 

15754=5 

St. Michael Island 

Azores 

37 00 N 

25 00 w 

4 5 ° E 

R. Norman 

25 

1576, June 

Gravesend 

England 

51 23 N 

0 20 E 

11 30 E 

Frobisher 

26 

1576, June 

Fair Island (SW. of) 

Scotland 

59 20 N 

2 10 W 

11 09 E 

Do. 


a Compiled from the following sources: No. i derived from Bianco’s compass charts (see p. 21); 2-15, inclusive, from 
Hellmann and Wagner’s collections (Journal “Terrestrial Magnetism,” Vol. IV, p. 80, and Vol. VIII, p. 196); No. 24 from 
Norman’s “The Newe Attractive,” (see citation, p. 43; the date was approximately assigned), Nos. 31 and 33, from 
W. Borough’s "Variation of the Compass,’’ 1581. (Norman in his book also states that he found at London u° 15' by 
his own observation. Doubtless Borough and Norman made the London observation together.) The rest of the 
observations except No. 28 (see footnote «) are taken from Hansteen’s “ Magnetismus der Erde,” and principally from 
van Bemmelen’s valuable collections, “Abweichung der Magnetnadel,” Batavia, 1899. 

6It is a curious coincidence that this value agrees precisely with the one (5 0 E.) which had been for so long 
erroneously ascribed to Peregrinus, as having been observed by him in 1269. See p. 20. 











PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


29 


Table I .—Earliest values of the magnetic declination up to 1600 for places 071 land or in 

its vicinity —Continued. 


No. 

Date. 

Place. 

Country. 

Latitude. 

Longitude. 

Magnetic 

Declina¬ 

tion. 

Authority or observer. 



% 


O t 

0 / 

O / 


27 

1579 

Bermejo Port 

South America 

5 ° 25 S 

75 00 E 

0 00 

P. Sarmiento de Gam¬ 
boa 

28 

1579 (?) 

Cape Mendocino 

(near) 

California 

39 00 N 

124 00 W 

ag 00 E 

Sir Francis Drake 

29 

1580, Apr. 17 

Astrakhan 

Russia 

46 21 N 

48 02 E 

13 40 W 

Chr. Borough 

30 

1580, June 11-16 

Bildih 

do. 

40 25 N 

49 3 ° E 

10 40 W 

Do. 

3 i 

1580, Oct. 4 

Derbent 

do. 

42 05 N 

48 15 E 

11 00 w 

Do. 

32 

1580, Oct. 16 

London 

England 

5 i 31 N 

0 08 E 

II 15 E 

W. Boroughs and R. 

33 

1580 

Paris 

France 

48 52 N 

2 20 E 

11 3 ° E 

Severtius 

34 

1581 (before) 

Vaigatch Island 

Russia 

70 ± N 

58 ± E 

7 00 W 

W. Boroughs 

35 

1587, Apr. 

Maipo 

South America 

34 00 S 

71 39 W 

2 30 W 

Cavendish 

36 

1587, May 25 

Puna 

do. 

2 45 S 

80 00 W 

2 00 E 

Do. 

37 

1587, Aug. 

Mauranilla 

Mexico 

18 15 N 

104 00 w 

2 00 E 

Do. 

3 S 

1587 

Cape Corientes 

do. 

20 45 N 

106 00 w 

2 00 E 

Do. 

3 S 

1587 

Cape San Lucas (near) 

do. 

22 55 N 

hi 56 w 

3 00 E 

Do. 

40 

1587, June 30 

Greenland, E. coast 


72 10 N 

56 00 W 

28 00 W 

Davis 

41 

1587, July 23 

Cumberland Bay, 

NW. end 


67 00 N 

67 30 W 

30 00 W 

Do. 

42 

1589, Aug. 14 

Santa Cruz (Flores) 

Azores 

39 5 ° N 

30 40 w 

64 00 w 

Edward Wright 

43 

1589, Sept. 13 

Fayal, in the town 

do. 

38 50 N 

27 40 w 

*>1 30E 

Do. 

44 

1589, Sept. 22 

do. 

do. 

38 50 N 

27 40 w 

64 40 E 

Do. 

45 

1589, Sept. 23 

do. 

do. 

38 5° N 

27 40 w 

b 3 10 E 

Do. 

46 

1589, Nov. 12 

NE.of CapeFinisterre 

Spain. 

44 25 N 

10 00 W 

07 00 E 

Do. 

47 

1594 

Off Cape St. Vincent 

do. 

37 °5 N 

9 10 w 

5 15 E 

Robert Dudley 

48 

1595. Jan. 

Off Cape Barbas 

Africa 

22 00 N 

17 00 w 

3 00 E 

Do. 

49 

J 595 > Jan. 

Off Cape Roxo 

Porto Rico 

17 54 N 

67 05 w 

3 00 W 

Do. 

50 

1595 . Aug. 4 

Bay Aguada de Sam- 
bras (Mossel Bay?) 

Africa 

34 10 S 

22 00 E 

0 00 

Corn. Houtman 

51 

1595 . Sept. 3 

Off Cape San Roman 

Madagascar 

25 30 s 

46 50 E 

13 00 w 

Do. 

52 

1596, June 22 

Entrance Sunda Sts. 


6 00 S 

104 20 E 

4 00 w 

Do. 

53 

15961 June 9 

Bear Island(Cherry) 


74 10 N 

16 00 E 

13 00 E 

Willem Barentsz 

54 

1596, June 23 

Hinlopen Strait 

Spitzbergen 

79 4 ° N 

17 00 E 

16 00 w 

Do. 

55 

1596, July 21 

Nova Zembla, Cross I. 

Russia 

76 45 N 

59 00 E 

26 00 w 

Do. 

56 

I 59 6 . July 3 1 

do. 

do. 

76 45 N 

59 0° E 

17 00 w 

Do. 

57 

1596 

Nova Zembla, I*an- 
geneus 

do. 

73 4 ° N 

53 3 ° E 

25 00 w 

Do. 

58 

1596 

Vaigatch Island 

do. 

69 10 N 

61 10 E 

24 30 w 

Do. 

59 

1596 

Williams Island 

do. 

75 5 ° N 

58 3° E 

33 00 W 

Do. 

60 

1596 

Yshoek 

do. 

76 55 N 

67 30 E 

27 00 W 

Do. 

6l 

1596 

Nova Zembla 

do. 

76 07 N 

68 34 E 

26 00 W 

Do. 

62 

1596-99 

Graz 

Austria 

47 07 N 

15 25 E 

6 00 W 

J. Kepler 

63 

1597 . Feb. 

Bali Strait,eastendof 

Java 

8 30 S 

114 5° E 

d 2 00 W 

Corn. Houtman 

64 

1597, Apr. 24 

Africa (SE. coast) 


32 3° S 

28 50 E 

5 00 W 

Do. 

*5 

1597, May 4 

Off Cape of Good 
Hope 


34 5° S 

18 20 E 

0 30 E 

Do. 

66 

1597, Aug. 11 

Off Egmont 

Holland, coast 

52 30 N 

4 20 E 

15 00 E 

Do. 

67 

15981 June 28 

Off Martin Vaz I. 


20 38 S 

31 13 W 

11 10 E 

Van Neck 

68 

1598, Sept. 28 

Off Mauritius Island 


20 27 S 

67 30 E 

22 15 W 

Do. 

69 

1598, Dec. 31 

Off Bantam 

Java 

6 00 S 

106 10 E 

5 10 W 

Do. 


a This value is given on a map by R. Dudley in the “Arcano del Mare,” and preserved by Petrus Koerius, dated 1646. 
showing the coast of New Albion, discovered by Sir F. Drake in 1579. Narrative and critical history of America, Justin 
Winsor, vol. 2, Boston and New York, 1S86. 

b These observations, according to Hansteen, were made by Wright with W. Boroughs'compass described inB.’sbook. 
cThis value is given by Hansteen in one place as 7 0 40', in another as 7 0 04'; Van Bemmelen apparently rounds off 
the value to 7 0 . 
cl Not quite 2 0 . 



















PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


30 

Table I. —Earliest values of the magnetic declination up to 1600 for places on la?id or in 

its vicinity —Concluded. 


No. 

Date. 

Place. 

Country. 

Latitude. 

Longitude. 

Magnetic 

Declina¬ 

tion. 

Authority or observer. 





0 f 

O / 

O t 


70 

1599. Feb. 9 

Off Arosbaya 

Madura Island 

7 00 S 

112 50 E 

2 30 w 

Van Neck. 

7 1 

1599 , Apr. 3 

Amboina, west end 


3 26 S 

128 30 E 

3 10 E 

Do. 

72 

1599, Apr. 19 

Off Ternate and Ti- 
dore 


1 02 N 

127 20 E 

3 10 E 

Do. 

73 

1600, May 7 

Off St. Helena Island 


15 55 S 

5 43 W 

7 38 E 

Do. 

74 

1600, May 22 

In bay, I. Ste. Marie 

Madagascar 

15 40 S 

47 3 ° E 

16 30 w 

Wilkens 

75 

1600, July 13 

Off Maidive Islands 

Indian Ocean 

2 00 N 

73 00 E 

15 00 w 

Do. 

76 

1600 

Between Buru and 
Amboina 

Dutch E. I. 

3 45 S 

127 30 E 

3 00 E 

Do. 

77 

1600, Sept. 

Off Bantam 

Java 

6 00 S 

106 10 E 

5 00 W 

Do. 

78 

1600 

Constantinople 

Turkey 

41 oi N 

28 50 E 

O OO 


79 

1600 (before) 

Antwerp 

Belgium 

51 13 N 1 

4 24 E 

9 00 E 


80 

1600 

Konigsberg 

Prussia 

54 42 N 

20 26 E 

0 00 


81 

1600 (before) 

Plymouth 

England 

50 26 N 

4 19 W 

13 24 E 


82 

1600, Sept. 26 

Cape San Sebastian 

Madagascar 

12 42 S 

47 4 ° E 

16 00 W 

J. Lankester 


Glancing over these values, it will be seen that in the sixteenth century the 
needle pointed east of north over the greater part of Europe, whereas now it as per¬ 
sistently points west, except in the eastern part. Cf. the charts of lines of equal 
magnetic declination for 1500 (Fig. 4) and 1600 (Fig. 17). 

Discovery of the Magnetic Inclination. 

The year 1581 is memorable as having produced the first two works treating dis¬ 
tinctively of the earth’s magnetism. The first, that of Robert Norman, entitled “The 
Newe Attractive, ’ ’ a heralded to the world an entirely new fact about the magnetic 
needle—“a newe discovered secret and subtill propertie concernyng the Declinyug of 
the Needle, touched therewith under the plaine of the Horizon.” This discovery of the 
dip of the needle below the horizon was made in 1576 by Norman , a practical seaman , or 
‘ ‘ hydrographer," as he styles himself , and an instrument maker. Thus the second element 
of the earth's magnetism came to light and gave another incentive for magnetic measure¬ 
ments. In Chapter III of his quaint and exceedingly rare book he relates “by what 
meanes the rare and strange declining of the Needle, from the plaine of the horizon 
was first found. ’ ’ 

“ Hauing made many and diuers compaffes, and ufing alwaies to finifh and end 
them before I touched the needle, I found continually, that after I had touched the 
yrons with the Stone, that prefently the north point thereof would bend or Decline 
downwards under the Horizon in fome quantitie: infomuch that to the Flie of the 
compaffe, which before was madeequall, I was ftill conftrained to put fome fmall peece 
of waxe in the South part thereof, to counterpoife this Declining , and to make it equall 
againe. 

‘ ‘ Which effect having many times paffed my hands without any great regard there¬ 
unto, as ignorant of any fuch propertie in the Stone, and not before hauing heard nor 


Principal parts reproduced in facsimile in Hellmann’s reprints, “Rara Magnetica,” Berlin, 1898. 













PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


31 


read of any fuch matter: It chaunced at length that there came to my hands an 
Inftrument to bee made, with a Needle of fixe inches long, which needle after I had 
pollifhed, cut off at Juft length, and made it to ftand levell upon the pinne, fo that 
nothing refted but onely the touching of it with the stone: when I had touched the 
fame, prefently the north part thereof Declined downe in fuch fort, that beeing conftrayned 
to cut away fome of that part, to make it equall againe, in the end I cut it too fhort, 
and fo fpoyled the needle wherein I had taken fo much paynes. 

‘ ‘ Hereby beeing ftroken in fome choller, I applyed my self to feeke further into this 
effect, and making certayne learned and expert men (my friends) acquainted in this 
matter, they advifed me to frame fome Inftrument, to make fome exact tryal, how 
much the needle touched with the Stone would Decline , or what greateft Angle it would 
make with thee plaine of the Horizon. Whereupon I made diligent proofes: the 
manner whereof is fhewed in the Chapter following.” 

Chapter IV next tells “ how to finde the greatest Declining of the Needle, under 
the Horizon ”: 

“Take a fmall Needle of Steele wier, of five or fixe inches long, the fmaller and 
the finer mettall the better, and in the middle thereof (croffe the fame) by the beft 
means you can, fixe as it were a fmall Axeltree of yron or braffe, of an inch long, or 
thereabout, and make the ends thereof very fharpe, whereupon the Needle may hang 
levell, and play at his pleafure. 

“Then provide a round plaine Inftrument like an Aftrolobe, to be divided exactly 
into 360 partes, whofe diameter muft be the length of the Needle, or thereabout, and 
the fame inftrument to bee placed uppon a foot of convenient height, with a plumme 
line to fette it perpendicular. 

“ Then in the Center of the fame Instrument place a peece of Glaffe hollowed, and 
againft the fame Center uppon fome place of Braffe that may be fixed upon the foot of 
the Inftrument, fit another peece of Glaffe, in fuch forte that the fharpe endes of the 
Axeltree beeing borne in thefe two Glaffes, the Needle may play freely at his pleafure, 
according to the ftanding of the Inftrument. 

“ And the Needle muft be fo perfected, that it may hang upon his Axeltree both 
ends levell with the Horizon, or being turned, may ftand and remaine at any place that 
it fhall be fette: which being done, touch the faide Needle with the Magnes ftone, and 
fet the Inftrument perpendicular by the plumme line, and turne the edge of the Inftru¬ 
ment South and North, fo as the Needle may ftand duley according to the Variation of 
the place: which Variation the Needle of his owne propertie would fhew, were it not 
that he is conftrained to the contrarie by the Axletree. 

“Then fhall you fee the Declination of the North point of the touched Needle, 
which for this Citie of London, I finde by exact obfervation to be about 71 degrees 50 
minutes. This forme of the inftrument heere defcribed with the manner of the decli¬ 
nation, I have heere placed that it may be the eafier conceived.” 

He next proves by experiment and weighings that it is not want of balance of 
needle nor the rubbing of it with the loadstone that makes this “declining of the 
needle.” 

One can not but admire the painstaking and conscientious labors of Norman and 
the precision with which he set out to determine the amount of “declining.” It will 


32 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


be noted that he explicitly states that the angle must be determined with the instru¬ 
ment standing “duley according to the Variation of the place ”—that is, in the magnetic 
meridian. It is curious, however, that he should call this the “greatest declining,’’ 
whereas in the plane of the magnetic meridian the declining is really the least , the angle 
increasing as the instrument is turned away from the magnetic meridian and reaching 
its maximum amount of 90° in a magnetic east and west plane. How exact his obser¬ 
vation of 71 0 50' is can not be judged in the absence of further details. 

From the letter, cited on page 26, which the famous vicar of Nuremburg, Georg 

Hartmann, wrote March 4, 1544, to 
Count Albert of Prussia, it is apparent 
that he had already become aware of the 
dipping of the north end of the needle. 
He says: ‘ ‘ Besides, I find this also in the 
magnet, that it not only turns from the 
north and deflects to the east about 9 0 
more or less, as I have reported, but it 
points downward. This may be proved 
as follows: I make a needle a finger long, 
which stands horizontally on a pointed 
pivot, so that it nowhere inclines toward 
the earth but stands horizontal on both 
sides. But as soon as I stroke one of 
the ends (wfith the lodestone), it matters 
not which end it be, then the needle 
no longer stands horizontal, but points 
downward some 9 0 more or less. The 
reason why this happens I was not able 
to indicate to His Royal Majesty.” 

Hartmann’s letter was not published 
until it was rescued from oblivion in the 
third decade of the nineteenth century, 
and its contents do not appear to have 
been known to Norman or to any of the 
writers of that period. It was recently 
republished in facsimile by Hellmann in 
his “ Rara Magnetica.” Hartmann did not mount his needle in such a manner as to 
show the precise amount of dip, as did Norman, but simply observed the dip of the 
north end of a compass needle, mounted as ordinarily, on a pivot, so that instead of 
getting about 65°, as he ought to have done, he only found 9 0 . As is well known the 
dip of the north end of a compass is nowadays usually overcome in the northern magnetic 
hemisphere by a sliding brass weight or ring on the south end. Accordingly , the principal 
credit for the discovery of the magnetic dip must undoubtedly be assigned to NormanA 

It is a keen pleasure to peruse Norman’s book, which was so popular that it was 

«It has also been claimed that reference to the dip of the needle is made in Fortunius Affaytatus’s 
book, “ Physicae et astronomicae,” published in 1549, but this does not appear to be the case. 













PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


33 


republished four times (1585, 1596, 1614, and again in 1720, bound with Whiston’s 
treatise), and note the admirable and modest manner in which he relates his experi¬ 
ments and discoveries, differing greatly in this respect from Gilbert, who, in his great 
work (1600), vehemently abuses almost every writer on magnetism and rarely credits 
anyone with the facts previously discovered. 

Norman must clearly be given credit for being the first to divine that the point or 
source of power which the needle respects is in the earth and not in the heavens, as had 
been generally supposed before his time. He says: 

“And by the Declining of the Needle, is alfo proved, that the point Refpective , is 
rather in the earth than in the Heavens, as fome have imagined; and the greateft 
reafon why they fo thought (as I judge) was becaufe they never were acquaynted with 
this Declining in the Needle, which doubtleffe if Martin Curtes had known, he would 
not have judged the Attractive point to have been in the Heavens, or without them, but 
rather in the earth.” 

Note also this remarkable sentence: “And surely I am of opinion, that if this 
Vertue could by any means be made vifible to the Eye of man, 
it would be found in in a sphericall forme, extending rounde 
about the Stone in great Compaffe, and the dead bodie of the 
Stone in the middle thereof. Whose center is the center of 
his aforefaid Vertue. And this I have partly prooved and 
made Vifible to be seene in some manner, and God sparing 
mee lifej I will herein make further Experience and that not 
curioufly, but in the Feare of God, as neare as he shall give 
mee grace, and meane to annex the same unto a Booke of 
Navigation, which I have had long in hand.” 

This is undoubtedly the source from which Gilbert got 
his idea of the “orbs virtutis ”—the circular orb of virtue 
surrounding the globular lodestone. In fact, Gilbert in no way 
i mproves on Norman ’ s idea but adopts it bodi ly. Some writers 
have extravagantly asserted that Gilbert anticipated Faraday’s 
conception of the field of force surrounding a magnet. 

Norman also proves experimentally that the attraction exerted on the magnet does 
not produce motion of translation but simply that of rotation (of the compass needle 
and of the dip needle).® His figure illustrating the experiment is herewith (Fig. 7) 
reproduced (half size). 

® In experiments with the terrella the needle is attracted obliquely or directly toward the globe 
with a very perceptible force. This is because the length of the needle is so considerable in propor¬ 
tion to the diameter of the globe that the magnetic forces on the two ends are not equal and parallel. 
But the length of the longest of mariner’s compass needles is not more than about nrxnhrwis an< l the 
length of the largest bar magnet that has ever been suspended so as to show by its movements any 
motive tendency it may experience from the force of terrestrial magnetism is not more than so <r 

of the Earth’s diameter, and therefore magnetic needles or bar magnets experimented on in any part 
of the world experience no sensible attraction toward or repulsion from the Earth and show only a 
directional tendency according to which a certain line of the magnet, called its magnetic axis, takes 
the direction of the curved lines of force. (“Terrestrial magnetism and the mariner’s compass,” by 
Sir W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) in Popular Lectures and Addresses, Vol. Ill, Navigation, pp. 228-337). 



Fig. 7. 


121220°—19-3 

















34 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


THE EARTH, A GREAT MAGNET. 

Gilbert’s “ De Magnete.” 

The year 1600 is generally regarded as a memorable one in the history of the 
sciences of magnetism and electricity, for in this year appeared Dr. William Gilbert’s 
famous work “De Magnete,” published at Eondon, dedicated in his prefatory remarks 
to the ‘ ‘ True philosophers, ingenuous minds who not only in books but in things them¬ 
selves look for knowledge,” and treating in five books or sections of the properties of 
magnetic bodies and of the “ great magnet, the Earth.” It was republished in Datin 
at Stettin (Sedini) in 1628 and 1633 by Wolfgang Eochmann, reprinted in 1892 in 
facsimile (photozincograph reproduction of 1600 edition) by Mayer and Muller, of 
Berlin, and translated into English for the first time by P. Fleury Mottelay, a and 
more recently under the auspices of the Gilbert Club. * 6 

William Gilberd, or as more usually written Gilbert, was born in the year 1540 in 
Holy Trinity Parish at Colchester, England, being the eldest of five sons of Jerome 
Gilbert, at one time recorder. Matriculating at the age of 18 at St. John’s College, 
Cambridge, he in due course took the degree of B. A.; he also became a Symson Fellow 
in 1561, an M. A. in 1564, and during the two years following was mathematical exam¬ 
iner of his college. He next studied medicine, reaching his doctorate and a senior 
fellowship in 1569, when he terminated his eleven years’ connection with the university, 
after which he spent four years on the Continent. 

Upon his return to Eondon he practiced as a physician for thirty years with ‘ ‘ great 
success and renown,” and w-as made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, later 
censor, then treasurer, next consilarius, and finally, in 1600, president of the college. 
In the same year Queen Elizabeth appointed him one of her body physicians and settled 
upon him a pension to enable him to prosecute his scientific researches. After her 
death Gilbert was continued in his office by James I. He died in November, 1603, 
and was buried in Trinity Church, Colchester. His books, papers, and collections, 
bequeathed to the Royal College of Physicians, were unfortunately destroyed in the 
“great fire.” 

It is not known how Gilbert, a successful physician, was led to devote himself so 
zealously and so unremittingly to the study of magnetism. He says “There is naught 
in these books (De Magnete) that has not been investigated and again and again done 
and repeated under our eyes.” Herein consists the chief value of the work—that 
nearly every conclusion drawn rests on experiment made over and over again under 
slightly varying conditions, for, as he says, ‘ ‘ stronger reasons are obtained from sure 
experiments and demonstrated arguments than probable conjectures, and the opinions 

« Published in 1893 by Quaritch, of London, and Wiley & Sons, of New York. 

& President of the Club, Lord Kelvin. The translation was prepared from the original edition of 
1600 by a Committee of the Club formed for this purpose in 1889, which finished its labors in 1900. The 
printing was undertaken in 1901 at the Chiswick Press by Messrs. C. Whittingham & Co., the edition 
being unfortunately limited to 250 copies. Prof. Sylvanus P. Thompson, one of the secretaries of the 
Club who took a most active part in the translation, has issued at his own expense his most valuable 
and useful commentaries, entitled: “Notes on the De Magnete of Dr. William Gilbert,” privately 
printed, London, 1901. As the Gilbert Club’s translation is not yet at hand, the quotations given 
above are according to Mottelay. 



PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


35 


of philosophical speculators of the common sort.” It is said that he spent ,£5,000 on 
his experiments, ‘ ‘ examining very many matters taken out of the lofty mountains, of 
the depths of the seas, or deepest caverns, or hidden mines,” in order to discover the 
true substance of the Earth and of magnetic forces. 

The De Magnete was the most complete summary of the properties of magnetic 
bodies up to 1600. One reading this work alone, however, must by no means infer 
that all the properties and laws set forth were discovered by Gilbert, for he very rarely 
gives credit to any previous discoverer. He frequently exhibits intolerance and lack 
of appreciation of the work of his predecessors, and like his experiments, repeats his 
vituperations and assertions over and over again, so that one is unconsciously led to 
believe that all previous work had resulted in very little of real value. 

Doubtless the fact that he thoroughly tested anew everything he had heard regard¬ 
ing magnetic substances, and accepted nothing on faith led him to regard all as his own 
and thus pr vented him from giving credit where credit was rightfully due. The weak 
points of others, however, he never fails to expose and ridicule. 

Gilbert terms the end of the lodestone or needle which points to the north, the 
south pole, and the opposite end, the north pole, for similar reasons to those already 
set forth. And by reiterating over and over Gilbert would apparently desire to 
convey the impression that he was the first to recognize the fact that the magnetism 
residing in the north-pointing end of a magnetic needle is of an opposite kind to that 
at the Earth’s north magnetic pole, although this fact was clearly recognized by many 
writers previously, beginning with Peregrinus in 1269. Gilbert must be simply credited 
with proposing to designate, because of the fact stated, the north-seeking end of the 
needle, the south pole—a proposal which, by the way, has not been accepted by modern 
writers. 4 

One can not fail, however, to recognize that Gilbert did a most useful piece of 
work in so carefully scrutinizing, weighing, and summarizing in suggestive and 
descriptive language all knowledge of magnetic properties. As a work on magnetism 
and electricity, Gilbert's De Magnete is still a statidard one; as a work on terrestrial mag¬ 
netism, however, it was weak even for its time, its conclusions and deductions having all 
been discredited with the exception of one, the truth of which he got right more by chance 
than by philosophical reasonbig, viz, that the “Earth itself is a great magnet." 

As said, Gilbert’s work as a treatise on terrestrial magnetism was by no means 
equal to his work on the general properties of magnetic bodies. When he came to 
theorize on the “Earth as a magnet” he forgot his own injunction to philosophers 
who but dream and speculate from books, saying that they “must be aroused and 
taught the uses of things, the dealing with things; they must be made to quit the sort 
of learning that comes only from books,® and that rests only on vain arguments from 
probability and upon conjectures.” 

Although he is credited as having determined a dip of 72 0 at Eondon, and by 
Kircher as having found the declination to be 6° b at London, his work contains nothing 
to lead one to suppose that he obtained the declination and dip himself. He repeatedly 
points out the errors of observations by others, but makes no attempt whatsoever to 


a Gilbert might have added: ‘ ‘ and mere laboratory experiments. ’ ’ 

b In 1580 the declination at Limehouse, Loudon, was 11X 0 E., and in 1600 about io° E. 




36 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


test by actual observation at various places the deductions drawn from his terrella, or 
spherical lodestone, and directly applied to the Earth. It is claimed that the chapter 
on methods for finding the “variation of the compass” was written by his friend 
Edward Wright, a practical navigator. His book does not even contain a systematic 
collection of all observations up to his time, such as that made, for example, by 
Plancius and published in Stevin’s work the year before. Had Gilbert been equally as 
zealous in observing the terrestrial magnetic elements as he was in h'is laboratory 
experiments, he might have stumbled on a fact—the secular change of the magnetic 
declination—which would doubtless have shaken him, to some extent at least, in his 
belief that the “Earth was a great lodestone;” for oj^of the fixed and necessary 
postulates of his theory was the constancy of the magnetigVleclination at any 'place. 

Gilbert reached his conclusion that the “Earth is a great magnet,” i. e., that its 
“magnetic virtue” comes from within the Earth and not from the heavens above, 
solely by analogy between the Earth and a globular lodestone which he termed a 
“terrella,” and which he had had expressly made for his experiments to represent the 
Earth on a miniature scale. The reasoning whereby he was led to the conclusion 
(Book I, Chapter XVII) that the “terrestrial globe is magnetic and is a lodestone,” 
upon which his fame largely rests, would not be accepted to-day, and, in fact, was not 
accepted by writers after the discovery of electro-magnetism. The problem was not 
definitely settled until Gauss, in 1838, attacked it analytically, with the aid of the 
observations accumulated up to his time, and showed that the Earth derives its perma¬ 
nent magnetism almost entirely from sources residing within its own crust, and not, 
for example, from any system of electric currents circulating around the Earth in the 
upper regions. " 

The recent researches of Dr. Schmidt, of Gotha, have confirmed Gauss’s conclu¬ 
sion. He finds that about 95 per cent of the Earth’s magnetic force is to be refill 
to causes within its crust and the remainder to electric currents either circulating 
around the Earth in the upper regions or passing from the air into the earth, and vice 
versa. Some of the periodic and spasmodic variations of the Earth’s magnetism, such 
as the diurnal variation, annual variation (not secular change) and magnetic perturba¬ 
tions, according to recent researches by Schuster, von Bezold, Schmidt, Schwalbe, 
and others, would apparently have to be ascribed to electric currents in the upper 
regions. 

If the way the compass points at various places on the Earth constituted the 
entire knowledge on the subject, it would be impossible to say whether the compass 
approximately points northward because of magnetism (or electric currents) within 
the Earth or external to it. There are, undoubtedly, in the Earth’s crust large masses 
of magnetized and magnetizable substances, as Gilbert inferred from the specimens 
collected from many parts of the Earth, but modern researches would indicate that the 
chief source of the Earth’s magnetism is not to be referred to permanently magnetized 
substances, but doubtless to a system of electric currents embedded deep within the 
interior of the Earth and connected in some manner with the Earth’s rotation. In 
order to make the compass point northward, the electric currents would have to circu¬ 
late in the interior from east to west, in accordance to the well-known rule of Ampere 
governing the deflection of a magnetic needle by an electric current. The compass 
can be made to point north equally as well, however, by electric currents circulating 


PRINCIPAL/ FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


37 

around the Earth in the upper regions in the contrary direction, viz, from west to 
east. Therefore with the aid of the compass needle alone it could not be determined 
whether the currents are inside or outside the Earth. 

The dip needle will determine this. The fact that the same end of the compass 
which points north likewise dips downward in the northern magnetic hemisphere 
requires, as can be easily shown by applying Ampere’s rule, that the electric currents 
circulate from east to west, and hence, in accordance with the evidence furnished by 
the compass and the dip needle, the currents must be in the interior of the Earth. 

Now, while Gilbert had at his command a general knowledge of the pointing of 
the compass needle over the regions then traversed, he only had one dip observation to 
work with—that made by Norman at London in 1576, and doubtless verified b}^ himself. 
He does not appear to appreciate that it is the salient feature of the dip needle which 
reveals the fact that the “Earth itself is a great magnet.” The citation from' 
Norman’s book, page 33, shows that by the discovery of the dip Norman had already 
inferred that the ‘ ‘ point respective ’ ’ which the needle heeds ‘ 1 is rather in the Earth 
than in the Heavens,” and Gilbert in no wise improves upon or adds anything to 
Norman’s reasoning. 

To Gilbert the Earth was but a great round lodestone. It had poles and an equa¬ 
tor, just as the terrella had its magnetic poles and a natural line or magnetic equator half¬ 
way between; it took a definite position in space, just as the terrella did with reference 
to the Earth; it had its diurnal motion 61 and revolution, just as the terrella had when 
floated in a bowl of water and brought under the action of the Earth’s force; it con¬ 
tained in abundance the very lodestone substance which possessed this remarkable 
“magnetical virtue;” it magnetized substances just as did the lodestone; it, like the 
lodestone, attracted bodies to itself (Gilbert regarded gravity and magnetism as identi¬ 
cal) ; therefore, like the lodestone, it was a magnet. All of this reasoning would equally 
apply for the magnetic effects due to an outside electric field, but in Gilbert’s time, 
though he could distinguish between them, the mutual relationship between electric 
and magnetic phenomena had not been discovered. He only knew of permanent 
magnets such as are exhibited in lodestones and artificially made magnets. 

According to Gilbert’s theory, the Earth’s magnetic poles were coincident with the 
rotation poles; in fact, he regarded the Earth’s rotation as due to magnetic action. 
The compass, therefore, if it had not been “perverted” in its direction by the attracting 
influence of the continents, as he thought, would accordingly point true north and 
south. He persistently regarded the magnetic declination, or, as he termed it, the 
“variation,” as a “sort of perturbation and depravation of the true direction.” The 
Germans, in their term of ‘ ‘ missweisimg ,” misdirection , convey a similar idea. It 
never entered Gilbert’s mind to consider the “variation ” as due, in whole or in part, to 
noncoincidence of magnetic poles and rotation poles, for, were that true, his theory of 
the Earth as a great lodestone would have fallen to the ground. 

He accordingly seeks another explanation, viz, that the “variation” is due to the 
fact that the elevated and massive parts of the Earth (continents) are more strongly 
magnetic, and the waters of the globe less so; hence the needle is drawn toward 

a Gilbert has the credit of being one of the earliest and most ardent advocates in England of 
Copernicus’s theory of the diurnal rotation of the Earth. His magnetic theory of the Earth was in 
fact largely, if not entirely, advanced in order to furnish a cause for this diurnal rotation. 



PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


3§ 

the continents. He ignominiously fails, however, in this explanation, and apparently 
ignores facts, undoubtedly known to him, which would have contradicted his theory. 
He lays himself open here to the same kind of criticism which he so unsparingly 
heaped upon others. 

Apparently aware of the fact that the dip of the needle at London did not corre¬ 
spond to what it ought to have been on the theory that the magnetic poles are at the 
geographical poles, he speaks of a “variation of the dip,” and ascribes this to the same 
cause as the “variation of the compass.” Aware that in the dip the same kind of vari¬ 
ations, though not of the same degree as in the magnetic declination, might be expected, 
he nevertheless proposes a method for determining latitude by means of the dip needle. 
And yet he ridicules those w 7 ho had proposed to determine the longitude by means of 
the magnetic declination.® 

To conclude, while it must be conceded that Gilbert made the first serious attempt 
to correlate the magnetic phenomena of the Earth and to construct a theory, his actual 
and real contributions to the subject of the Earth’s magnetism are by no means of that 
brilliancy and luster which is generally supposed, and which mark his other works, 
his failures being due in a large degree to his not following his own advice to philos¬ 
ophers, “ to leave their books and go out and deal with things.” In the writer’s esti¬ 
mation, Norman’s little work should be given a higher rank as a real and valuable 
contribution to our advancement of the knowledge of the Earth’s magnetism than that 
part of Gilbert’s book dealing with terrestrial magnetism. 

THE VARIATIONS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 

Discovery of the Secular Change of the Magnetic Declination. 

The only contribution of great value to the science of terrestrial magnetism in the sev¬ 
enteenth century was the discovery of the secular change of the magnetic declination by 
Gellibrand in 1634. . b Hitherto it had been supposed that the magnetic declination, 
though varying from place to place, was fixed and invariable at any one place, except 
that “by the break up of a continent,” as Gilbert put it, it might suffer a change. But 
now an entirely new and most important fact came to light, showing indisputably that 

«The suggestion of determining the longitude at sea by means of the magnetic declination 
started with Columbus and served to stimulate the making of magnetic observations until the close of 
the eighteenth century. In 1720 William Whiston, the translator of Josephus, revived Gilbert’s idea 
of using the dip and accordingly supplied certain mariners with dip circles. Thus some notable con¬ 
tributions to terrestrial magnetism were obtained. The earliest dip observation in the United States is 
that made at Boston in 1722 with a dip circle supplied to Capt. Othniel Beal by Whiston. 

& Some of the principal writers on magnetism and terrestrial magnetism of the seventeenth century 
besides Gellibrand were: Barlowe, in whose book, Magnetical Advertisements, 1616, the word “ mag¬ 
netism” as a noun, according to Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, appears for the first time; Mark Ridley, 
Bacon, Galileo, Nicolaus Cabaeus, whose Philosophia Magnetica, Ferrara, 1629, the first Italian treatise 
on the magnet, contains an improvement of Gilbert’s picture of the lines of force around a magnet; 
Kepler, Athanasius Kircher (Jesuit and an opponent of the Copernican theory), who in his works col¬ 
lected all values of the magnetic declination known to him; Descartes, Porta, von Guericke, Hooke, 
and Bond, who made a special study of the subject of the secular change in the dip, using the word 
‘‘inclination” to denote the dip in place of the word “ declination,” which, as will be recalled, Nor¬ 
man had employed. 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


39 


the earth’s magnetism suffers mighty changes in the course of time. Hence it now 
became necessary to note not only the place but also the time when an observation of 
the magnetic declination was made. The compass had by this time come into general 
use, not only as an instrument, as Gilbert said, “beneficial, salutary, and fortunate for 
seamen, showing the way to safety and to port,” but also for the purpose of running 
out lines on the earth’s surface (land surveys) and in mines, and for the orientation of 
buildings. To retrace these lines anew at some subsequent period required a consid¬ 
eration of the newly discovered fact. No wonder this truth was fought, disputed, and 
doubted for some time. 

Henry Gellibrand was a professor of mathematics at Gresham College. He made a 
careful determination of the pointing of the compass on June 12, 1634, at Diepford, 
or Deptford, about 3 miles southeast of London Bridge, and found 4 0 6' east. Now, 
Edmund Gunter, another mathematician of Gresham College, had found on June 13, 
1622, 5 0 56 Yz' east, and, as will be recalled, Borough and Norman had found in 1580, 
ii° 15' east. Clearly, therefore, the magnetic declination had suffered considerable 
change since 1580. Gellibrand repeated his observations, next examined carefully the 
observations which Borough had published, and although he found that Borough had 
neglected to take into account atmospheric refraction in his calculations, nevertheless 
he got practically the same amount as Borough had given. 

He announced his discovery in a book," now exceedingly scarce, entitled “A Dis¬ 
course Mathematical on the Variation of the Magneticall Needle, together with its 
admirable Diminution lately discovered.” London, 1635. He says: “Thus (hitherto 
according to the Tenents of all our Magneticall Philosophers) we have supposed the vari¬ 
ation of all particular places to continue one and the same; so that when a seaman shall 
happily return to a place where formerly he found the same variation, he may hence 
conclude ‘ he is in the same former longitude. ’ For it is the Assertion of Mr. Dr. Gilbert: 
Variatio uniuscujusq; Loci constans est, that is to say the same place doth alwayes retaine 
the same variation. Neither hath this Assertion (for aught I ever heard) been ques¬ 
tioned by any man. But most diligent magneticall observations have plainely offered 
violence to the same, and proved the contrary, namely that the variation is accompanied 
with a variation.” 

He republishes the observations of 1580 and 1622, along with his own, in order to 
furnish all necessary evidence, and says: 

‘ ‘ If any affected with magneticall Philosophy shall yet desire to see an experiment 
made for their owne particular satisfaction, where I may prevaile, I would advise them 
to pitch a faire stone parallel to the Horizon there to rest immoveably, and having a 
Needle of a convenient length strongly touch’t by a vigorous Magnet to draw a Mag¬ 
neticall Meridian thereby, and yearly to examine by the application of the same (well 
preserved from the ayre and rust, its greatest enemies) whether time will produce the 
like alterations.” 

Most commendably and remarkably for his times, Gellibrand refrains from ‘ ‘ enter¬ 
ing into a dispute [speculation] concerning the source of this sensible diminution, 
whether it may be imputed to the magnet or the Earth, or both, ” but says it “must be all 

a Reprinted in facsimile by Hellmann; Asher & Co., Berlin. Hellmann used a copy loaned him by 
the late Latimer Clark, whose exceedingly valuable library has come into the possession of the Amer¬ 
ican Institute of Electrical Engineers, headquarters, New York 




40 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


left to future times to discover, this Invention being but newly presented to the world 
in its infancy.” 

The following sentence, taken from the article on the compass in such an authori¬ 
tative work as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth edition, illustrates the great confu¬ 
sion caused by the misuse of the word “ variation.” 

‘ ‘ The discovery of the variation of declination was made by Stephen Burrows when 
voyaging between the north cape of Finmark and Vaigatch (Vaygates), and was after¬ 
ward determined by Gellibrand, professor of geometry at Gresham College. ’ ’ 

In the first case the author means simply the change in the magnetic declination 
with geographical position, i. e., the geographical variation of the magnetic declination, 
whereas when referring to the discovery of Gellibrand, the slow variation taking place 
with the lapse of time, viz, the secular change, is meant. The author has thus used 
the word * ‘ variation ’ ’ in the same sentence with two totally different meanings, pre¬ 
venting one thereby from getting a proper idea as to the precise facts involved. 
Besides, the geographical variation of the declination had been discovered in the 
century previous to that of Burrows’s time, as already stated, by Columbus. 

Nearly three centuries have passed since Gellibrand’s discovery was made known, 
and although observations have been multiplied and some of the best minds have given 
their undivided attention to this most striking fact of the Earth’s magnetism, the riddle 
is still unsolved. Innumerable theories have been advanced, the difficulty not being in 
finding a cause, but to tell which one among the many assignable ones is the one. 
While observations of declination for three centuries are at hand, those of dip are not 
so numerous and those of the intensity of the magnetic force are still more scarce, 
beginning only since the third decade of the last century. Both the dip and intensity 
undergo secular change in the same manner as the declination. The definite solution of 
this great and important problem of the Earth’s physics requires a full and accurate 
knowledge of the changes in the three magnetic elements named. The prospects at 
present are fair that the secular change of the Earth’s magnetism is to be referred, 
primarily, to the effect of secondary electric currents generated within the Earth by its 
rotation around an axis not coincident with its magnetic axis. 

The Characteristics of the Secular Change. 

The secular change has received the closest attention in the United States, largely 
for practical reasons, as in all of the older States the original land surveys were referred 
to compass lines. The retracing of the ‘ ‘ metes and bounds ’ ’ at subsequent periods 
called for a knowledge of the amount of change in the compass bearing during the 
elapsed interval. To meet the demand for knowledge of this kind, C. A. Schott, who 
directed the magnetic work of the Coast and Geodetic Survey for nearly a half century, 
undertook a thorough and systematic collection of all known values of the magnetic 
declination in the United States and vicinity, resulting in a collection as yet unequaled 
in any other country. 

It is a lamentable fact that such collections have not been undertaken for European 
countries, where in many instances the records go back to the sixteenth century. 
Knowledge of the manner and rate of progression of a particular phase of the secular 
change from place to place would be materially increased thereby. 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


41 

The following table® exhibits how the declination has changed at various places: 
Table II .—Showing the secular change in the magnetic declination at various places. 


Year 

Northern Hemisphere 

Southern Hemisphere 

London 

Paris 

Rome 

Manila 

San Fran¬ 
cisco 

Baltimore 

Rio de 
Janeiro 

Ascension 

Island 

St. Helena 
Island 

Cape 

Town 


O 

O 

O 

O 

0 

0 

0 

O 

O 

, 

1540 

7- 2 (?) E 

8. 2 E 

10.47 E 








1560 

9. 6 (?) E 

9-3 E 

11. 61 E 








1580 

10.93 E 

9.6 E 

11. 41 E 








1600 

10.13 E 

8. 8 E 

9.88 E 








1620 

7.26 E 

6.9 E 

7.29 E 








1640 

3.27 E 

4. 42 E 

3.86 E 



5.3 W 





1660 

0.59 W 

0. 86 E 

0.01 W 



6.0 W 





1680 

3.89 W 

3. 47 W 

4. 01 w 



6. 1 W 





1700 

7.08 W 

7.99 W 

7. 77 W 

• 


5-5 w 





1720 

10.97 W 

12. 27 W 

IT. 02 W 



4.5 W 





1740 

15.30 w 

15. 83 w 

13. 63 w 



3.2 w 





1760 

19.57 W 

18. 76 w 

15-51 w 



1. 95 W 

8. 6 E 

8. 4 W 

II .70 W 

20. 5 W 

1780 

22.65 W 

20. 87 W 

16. 64 w 


12.6 E 

1. 03 w 

7. 2 E 

11. 6 W 

14. 59 w 

23. 2 w 

1800 

24.07 W 

22. 12 w 

17. 06 w 

0.08 E 

13.6 E 

0. 66 W 

5-5 E 

14. 0 W 

17.51 w 

25. 4 w 

1820 

24.09 W 

22. 40 W 

16. 77 W 

0.14 E 

14. 6 E 

o. 93 W 

3-6 E 

16. 4 w 

20. 01 W 

27. 2 W 

X840 

23. 22 W 

21.38 W 

15. 84 W 

0. 27 E 

15. 43 E 

1. 77 W 

1. 2 E 

18. 8 W 

22. 00 W 

28. 8 W 

i860 

21.55 w 

19. 54 w 

14.23 W 

0. 45 E 

16.11 E 

2. 99 w 

1.4 W 

21. 4 W 

23. 41 W 

29. 7 W 

1880 

18.73 w 

16. 76 w 

II. 77 w 

0.69 E 

16. 57 E 

4. 30 w 

4.3 w 

22. 9 w 

24. II w 

29. 6 W 

1890 

17.57 W 

15. 16 w 

10.57 w 

0. 83 E 

16. 64 E 

4. 89 w 

6. 1 W 

23.0 w 

24. 21 W 

29. 2 w 

I900 

16.5 W 

14.6 w 


0. 97 E 

16.7 E 

5. 40 w 

8.0 W 





This table shows that at London, for example, the pointing of the needle was east 
of north in the middle of the sixteenth century, reaching a maximum of n° or n^° 
about 1580. After that it began to diminish until about 1658, the year of Cromwell’s 
death, when the needle stood truly north and south. The needle next began to point 
westward by an ever-increasing amount until about 1812, when it appeared to almost 
stand still for several years at a value of somewhat over 24 0 . Thereafter the westerly 
declination began to diminish until it is now about 16 0 . Consequently between 1580 
and 1812, in an interval of 232 years, the compass direction at London changed from 
ii° east to 24 0 west, in all 35 °. The directio7i of a street a mile long , laid out in London 
in 1580 in the direction pointed out by the compass zvould be seven-tenths of a mile too far 
to the east at the north terminus according to the compass direction of 1812! 

For Paris and Rome similar changes to those at London are found. At Paris the 
maximum easterly declination of 9 0 36' was reached near the year 1580, and the max¬ 
imum westerly declination of 22 0 36' in about 1809, the needle pointing due north in 
1664. At Rome the declination of the needle reached its maximum amount east, n° 
36', in 1570, approximately, and its maximum amount west, 17 0 06', in about 1810, 
coinciding with the true meridian in 1660. At Manila, Philippine Islands, the needle 
changed from 05' east in 1800 to 53' east in 1901, and at San Francisco, Cal., from 
12 0 36' east in 1780 to 16 0 48' east at the present time. At Baltimore, between 1640 
and the present time the needle bore west all the time and did not at any time point due 

a This table and the accompanying subsequent remarks are extracted from the writer’s “First 
report on magnetic work in Maryland,” Maryland Geological Survey Report, Vol. I, 1897 
























42 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


north or east of north as surveyors frequently assumed to be the case for this part of 
Maryland. The figures show that at Baltimore the compass needle pointed about 6° 06' 
west in 1670 and that in about 1802 it pointed the least amount west, namely, 39'; 
hence, in an interval of 132 years, the needle changed its direction by 5 0 27'. A street 
a mile long laid out in Baltimore in 1670 so as to run in the compass direction would have 
its north terminus 504. feet , or about one-tenth of a mile , too far to the west in 1802. This 
is a fact especially interesting, because in some of the old towns of the thirteen original 
States, as for example in Maryland, the streets were laid out by the compass, or prom¬ 
inent public buildings, such as court-houses, were erected so that the front face would 
run parallel to a cardinal direction as given by the compass. Thus, while establishing 
a meridian line for the use of surveyors at Chestertown, the county seat of Kent 
County, Md., it was found that High street, the main street, ran very nearly mag¬ 
netically northwest and southeast. Assuming that the street was originally laid 
out with the compass so as to run northwest and southeast, and knowing from the data 
at Baltimore and some other stations that the needle bore the same amount west in the 
early part of the eighteenth century that it does at present, the conclusion to be drawn 
was that the town of Chestertown was laid out in the early part of the eighteenth 
century. Upon looking up the records, the assumptions made and the conclusions 
drawn were verified. The town was laid out in 1702 and the streets were run with 
the compass northwest and southeast, and at right angles thereto. So, also, by deter¬ 
mining the astronomical directions of the streets in the old town of Oxford, Md., which 
had been laid out by the compass in the first decade of the eighteenth century, an 
approximate knowledge of the magnetic declination at that time was ascertained. 

The table likewise gives the change in the compass direction at some stations in the 
Southern Hemisphere. One fact at once noticeable from this table is, that during a 
given interval of time the cornfass direction changes not only by different amounts in 
different parts of the Earth , but, likewise , the changes occur in some farts in opposite 
directio?is. For example, compare the changes which have occurred between 1800 and 
1890 at the various stations. 


Place. 

London 

Paris 

Rome 

Manila 

San Francisco 
Baltimore 
Rio de Janeiro 
Ascension Island 
St. Helena Island 
Cape Town 


North end of compass needle 
veered between 1800 and 1890. 

6° 30' to the east. 

6 58 

6 29 “ “ 

o 45 


3 02 

4 14 
11 36 

9 00 
6 42 
3 48 


west. 


i i 


The compass needle, accordingly, while swinging to the eastward at London between 
1800 and the present time was swinging in the opposite direction, westward , at Baltimore 
during the same interval of time, the amount of swing not being the same at the two 
stations. 

Another striking fact disclosed by looking over the figures for any one station, for 
example, Baltimore, is that at the same station the change per year is-not a constant quan¬ 
tity , as frequently assumed by the surveyor. The annual change for this particular station 




PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


43 


may vary all the way from zero to four minutes. At the times of maximum or minimum 
values of the declination the annual change is practically zero for about five years on 
either side of these epochs. The annual change then begins to increase until about 
midway between the epochs of maximum and minimum values, for example, about 1730 
or about 1870, when it reaches its maximum value of about four minutes; it then dimin¬ 
ishes again. 

The secular motion of the compass needle may be likened to the swinging of a 
pendulum. At the extreme positions of the pendulum, on either side of the position it 
would occupy if at rest, the velocity with which the bob moves in its orbital path van¬ 
ishes. As the pendulum moves toward its mean position from the right, it does so at a 
constantly accelerating pace until it reaches the mean position midway between the two 
extreme positions. Here the velocity is a maximum, and as the pendulum swings past 
the mean position it begins to slacken its pace until reaching the extreme position on 
the left, when the velocity of motion again vanishes. 

At no station has as yet a complete swing—for example, from right to left and back 
again from left to right—been observed. At some stations, however, a little over half a 
swing has been obtained. A comparison of the time interval between the two extreme 
positions, i. e., half a swing, at various stations shows another remarkable fact, that the 
time intervals between the extreme positions of the needle are of different le?igths in differ¬ 
ent parts of the Earth. To illustrate: At Eondon, Paris, and Rome the time interval 
between dates of extreme positions of the needle is about two hundred and thirty to 
two hundred and forty vears, while for stations in the Eastern States of this country it 
is on the average about one hundred and fifty years. 

Taking into consideration all the facts at present known with regard to the secular 
change, it is found that it is not possible to explain all those facts on the assumption 
that there is a secular change period common to all parts of the Earth of about three 
hundred to five hundred years in length. The indications are that for a common secular 
change period a much longer period is required. But if this is so, it means that the 
secular change is a far more complicated matter than generally supposed. Besides 
the main swing as described above, there are a number of minor swings whose periods 
are not as yet definitely known. These minor swings have the effect of slightly altering 
the annual change due to the main secular change. 

Fig. 8 illustrates graphically the change in the magnetic declination for various 
points in the Northern Hemisphere, such stations having been selected as would 
be typical of the regions represented by them. It will be seen that the stations encircle 
the globe. This one diagram exhibits at a glance all the characteristic features 
of the secular change of the magnetic declination in the Northern Hemisphere as 
at present known. With the aid of Table II the meaning of the curves wall be readily 
understood. Thus, for example, selecting the date 1800 and running the eye along 
the horizontal line marked 1800 until it intersects the Eondon curve, and casting the 
eye upward from this point of intersection along the vertical line, it is found that 
the declination of the needle was a trifle over 24 0 west. For Paris the observations 
known up to the present time have been indicated by dots. It will be seen that the 
curve, which is due to Schott, represents the existing data satisfactorily. In the case 
of Fayal Island it will be noticed that prior to 1600 two curves, one in full and the 
other broken, are given; the broken curve represents a repetition of the same law which 
governed the secular change at this station between 1600 and present date, while the 


44 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


full curve lias been drawn to harmonize with the observations back to the time of 
Columbus. It will be seen that there is a marked difference between the two curves 
for the date 1500. A similar state of things is revealed at Rome, the broken curve 
again representing the law from 1510 to present date, while the full curve represents 
the observations which can be obtained with the aid of the early ‘ ‘ compass charts ’ ’ of 
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The departure between the broken curve and 
the full one amounts to about 17 0 for the year 1400. Similar indications exist at other 
stations of a change in the law of the secular change prior to 1600. 

The special purpose of the diagram has been to show the mutual relationship 



Hemisphere. 

between the secular change curves over the Earth. Each station bears a somewhat 
different testimony of the phenomenon under consideration, and it is only by consider¬ 
ing the collective evidence that one can hope to make headway and be enabled to say 
what probably transpired at any one station prior to the records # or what is likely to 
occur at this station in the future. Ity following the curves systematically around the 
globe it is quite possible to construct a composite curve, with the aid of which a clearer 
conception of this most perplexing phenomenon can be obtained. 

However, as already stated, the laws actually governing the secular change can not 
be discovered by simply considermg the cha?iges in the magnetic declination alone. One can 

































PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


45 

hope to make progress only by studying the phenomenon in its entirety; that is to say, if 
a magnetized needle is taken and suspended at its center of gravity in such a way that 
it is free to turn in any direction whatsoever, to the left or to the right, up or down, 
then under the influence of the Earth’s magnetism the north end of the needle, while 
still pointing approximately toward the north, also points downward and the south end 
upward. The actual direction assumed by the needle lies somewhere between a true 
vertical line and a true horizontal line, nearer to the former than to the latter in the 
latitudes under consideration. This is the direction in which the Earth’s magnetic force 
acts. On the compass needle only the horizontal component of the force has an effect, as 
the vertical component is counteracted by adding an additional weight to the south arm 
of the needle, generally a bit of brass wire. The changes that are taking place in the 



Fig. 9.—Curves showing secular change in magnetic declination and dip at London, Boston, and Baltimore. 


true direction of the Earth’s magnetic force and in its magnitude constitute the real facts 
to be studied. 

It is an interesting problem to inquire: How does the north end of the freely 
suspended magnetic needle move with the lapse of time, if the motion is observed from 
the point of suspension of the needle? Does it move clockwise or anticlockwise? 
Would needles similarly suspended in all parts of the Earth move in the same direction? 
What is the nature of the curve described in space by the north end ? These are some 
of the fascinating questions which can be asked from this point of view. 

It has been found by the writer that over the greater portion of the Earth the north 
end of a freely suspended magnetic needle during the past two or three centuries has been 
moving in a clockwise direction. In the Pacific Ocean and along the western coast of the 
United States evidence exists of small irregularities in the general law of motion as 



























46 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


explained above. Some of the stations in this region exhibit small anticlockwise motions. 
No station has thus far been found where the reverse motion has prevailed for any such length 
of time, as has been the case with the direct motion. 

Fig. 9 exhibits the curves resulting in the manner described above for London, 
Boston, and Baltimore. 

Fig. io has been constructed in a similar manner. The outside curve exhibits the 
changes in magnetic declination and dip encountered were one to make a complete 


DECLINATION 



Fig. io. —Comparison of curve showing change in magnetic declination and dip along parallel of latitude 4o° N. in 1885 

with curve showing secular change at Rome. 

circuit of the Earth in an eastwardly direction along the parallel of latitude 40° north. 
The data have been scaled from Neumayer’s isogonic and isoclinic charts for 1885, con¬ 
tained in his excellent atlas. Thus in zero longitude, counting from Greenwich, a 
freely suspended magnetic needle pointed in 1885 15 west and its dip was 58°; in 
20 0 east longitude, these quantities were respectively 8° west and 54°.7, etc. It will 
be noticed that the curve goes throughout—even for the loop described when crossing 
Asia—in the same direction as that of the hands of a watch, just as in the case of the 
secular motion curves shown in fig. 9 and the one of Rome given in the present figure. 
Rome is situated not far from latitude 40° north, its latitude being 4i°-9 north. The 
general character of the two curves is seen to be very similar. It has been shown in 
other ways besides this one that many of the laws underlying the momentary distribu¬ 
tion of the Earth’s magnetism and the secular change are alike. 

The circuit of the Earth in the above case was made to the eastward because the 
secular variation curves appear to develop themselves more and more as we go around the 
Earth eastwardly . a 


a See Physical Review, Vol. II, pp. 455-465, and Vol. Ill, pp. 34-48. 




































I 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 47 

Diurnal Variation. 

In the year 1682, in the city of Louveau, Siam, it is related that Pater Guy Tachart, 
in the presence of the King, found that the magnetic declination on one day was o° 16' 
west; on the following day, o° 31'; on the third day, o° 35'; on the fourth, o° 38', and 
repeating the observations after the lapse of a few days the values found on three suc¬ 
cessive days were o° 28', o° 33', and o° 21'. The observations were doubtless made on 
these various days at different times of the day, so that part of the differences in the 
results obtained are possibly to be ascribed to the next remarkable fact regarding the 
“constant inconstancies” of the Barth’s magnetism, the so-called diurnal variation, by 
which the needle is made to change its direction, from hour to hour, throughout the day. 

The credit of the discovery of the diurnal variation must properly be given to 
Graham, a Bondon mechanician and clock maker, who from many hundred observations 
of the declination of the magnetic needle at various times of the day made in 1722 a 
definite announcement of the existence of this variation.® Graham’s discovery was 
later verified and amplified by Prof. Andr. Celsius in Upsala, who had a compass made 
expressly for this purpose by the instrument maker, Sisson, of London, under Graham’s 
supervision, and by a host of other investigators. 


Table III.— The diurnal variation of the magnetic declination at Baldwin, Kans., for 

each month of the year 1901. 


Hour 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Apr. 

May 

June 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

I a. m. 

/ 

-0.4 

t 

—O. 2 

/ 

+ 0.3 

/ 

+ 0.5 

/ 

+ 0.3 

* / 
+0. I 

/ 

+ 0.3 

/ 

+0. I 

i / 

O. O 

t 

—O. I 

/ 

— O. I 

/ 

— O. I 

2 

-0.4 

—0.2 

+0. 2 

+0. 6 

+ 0.5 

+0. 2 

+ 0-3 

+0. 2 

0.0 

—O. I 

—O. 2 

—O. 2 

3 

—O. 2 

0.0 

-j-O. 2 

+0.5 

+0. 6 

+ 0.4 

+0.4 

+0. I 

+0.3 

+0. 2 

—O. I 

—O. 2 

4 

—O. I 

-f 0.2 

+ 0.4 

+0. 8 

+0.8 

+0. 8 

+0.8 

+ 0.3 

+0.8 

+0. 2 

O. O 

O. O 

5 

— 0.5 

+0.4 

+ 0.4 

+0.9 

+ 1.4 

+ 1.4 

+1.4 

+ 1. 2 

+1.1 

+ 0.4 

+0. 2 

—O. 2 

6 

- 0.3 

+0.3 

+0.8 

+ 1.6 

+2. 2 

+2.4 

+2.4 

+2. 7 

+2.3 

+0.8 

+ 0.3 

—O. 2 

7 

O. O 

+0.9 

+ 1-9 

+2. 7 

+ 3 - 1 

+ 3-5 

+ 3-6 

+ 4.2 

+4.0 

+2. 0 

+ 1.2 

+ 0.3 

8 

+0. 6 

+1.5 

+2.5 

+3.5 

+ 3.3 

+3.7 

+ 4.0 

+4.4 

+ 3-6 

+2.6 

+2. O 

+O.4 

9 

+ i -5 

+2.2 

+2.7 

+2.8 

+2.8 

+ 3 - 2 

+ 3-4 

+ 3-3 

+2.4 

+2.4 

+2.0 

+ 1. 2 

10 

+2.0 

+i -3 

+1.8 

+1.1 

+1.0 

+1.0 

+0. 9 

+0.3 

0. 0 

+1.0 

+ 1.0 

+1.4 

11 

+1.1 

+0. 1 

—0. 2 

—0. 8 

— 1. 1 

— 1. 2 

-i -7 

—2. 2 

—2. 2 

—0. 8 

—0. 6 

+0. 6 

Noon 

—0.4 

— 1. 2 

—2. 0 

—2. 1 

—2.4 

—2. 6 

- 3*2 

- 3-7 

- 3-6 

—2. 2 

-i -7 

-0.7 

1 p.m. 

-i -3 

-1.8 

-3-o 

- 3 - 1 

- 3-4 

- 3-5 

—4.0 

—4.3 

—3.8 

-2.5 

—2.1 

— 1-5 

2 

—1.6 

—2.0 

—3.0 

—3.5 

—3.7 

-3.7 

—4.1 

-4. 1 

-3-o 

—2. 1 

—1.8 

—1.6 

3 

—L 4 

—1. 6 

-2.5 

— 3 -o 

-2.8 

-2.9 

- 3 - 1 

- 3 -o 

-i -5 

-1.4 

— 1. 1 

—i -3 

4 

— 1. 1 

-0.9 

—i -5 

—2. 0 

—1.8 

—1.8 

-1.9 

-i -3 

—0.4 

—0. 7 

-0.5 

—0.7 

5 

—0.3 

-0.3 

-0.5 

—1. 0 

-0.8 

—0. 6 

-0.7 

0.0 

+0. 1 

—0.4 

—0. 1 

+0. 1 

6 

+0. 2 

0.0 

—0. 1 

-=-0.3 

—0. 1 

—0. 1 

+0. 2 

+0.5 

—0. 2 

—0. 2 

+0.1 

+0.4 

7 

+0.5 

+0. 2 

—0. 1 

0. 0 

—0. 2 

0. 0 

+0. 2 

+0. 2 

—0. 1 

+0. 2 

+0.4 

+0.5 

8 

+0.6 

+0.4 

+0. 1 

0. 0 

—0. 1 

0. 0 

+0. 2 

+0. 1 

+0. 2 

+0. 2 

+0.4 

+0. 6 

9 

+0. 6 

+0.5 

+0.4 

0. 0 

— 0. 1 

0. 0 

+ 0. 2 

+0. 2 

+0.4 

+0.3 

+0.4 

+0. 6 

10 

+°. 5 

-(-0. 2 

+0.5 

+0. 2 

0. 0 

—0. 1 

+0. 2 

+0.3 

0.0 

+0. 2 

+0. 1 

+0.4 

11 

+0.4 

-j-o. 2 

+0.4 

+0. 2 

+0. 1 

0. 0 

+0. 2 

+0.3 

0.0 

+0. 2 

+0. 1 

+0. 2 

Mid’t 

+0.1 

0. 0 

+0.3 

+0. 6 

+0. 2 

—0. 1 

+0.1 

+0.3 

-o -3 

0. 0 

0. 0 

—0. 1 

Range 

3-6 

4.2 

5-7 

7.0 

7.0 

7-4 

8. 1 

8.7 

7.8 

5 - 1 

4.1 

3 -o 


«See “Philosophical Transactions,” London, 1724. 



































PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


48 



.3 

<r 3 

bo 

G 


2 

£ 


Table III shows how the compass needle 
changed its direction from hour to hour (local 
mean time) for each month of the year 1901 at 
Baldwin, Kans., where the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey has a magnetic observatory in which are 
mounted delicate instruments registering con¬ 
tinuously, day and night, automatically, by 
photographic means, the minutest variations in 
the Earth’s magnetism. 

At that place the magnetic needle points 
about 8°.4 east of north. A plus sign in the 
table means a deflection of the needle toward 
the east of the average direction for the entire 
day (twenty-four hours), and a minus sign a 
deflection toward the west. Thus in August, 
for example, at 8 a. m. the average easterly 
pointing of the needle was increased by 4'.4; it 
then began to diminish until the average value 
was reached a little after 10 a. m., indicated by 
the change of sign of the tabular quantities; 
after passing this point it still continued to 
diminish until reaching its lowest value at about 
1 p. m., when the easterly declination had its 
least value, being 4'. 3 less than its average value, 
or about 9' less than its maximum value in the 
morning. Next it increased until again reach¬ 
ing its average value about 5 p. m., after which 
it remained nearly stationary, except for minute 
fluctuations throughout the night, until about 
sunrise, when it rapidly began to rise to its 
maximum value. 

Examining the figures for a winter month, 
e. g., December, it will be seen that the fluctua¬ 
tions are not so large as during the summer; 
where before the difference between maximum 
and minimum was about 9', it is now one-third 
of this amount, viz, 3'. On the diagram, Fig. 11, 
the diurnal variation of the magnetic declina¬ 
tion for the two months, August and December, 
has been graphically represented. 

Two lines, each a mile long, one run in the 
direction indicated by the compass early in the 
morning and the other early in the afternoon, 
both starting at the same point, diverge at their 
extremities in midsummer by 10-15 feet, the 
morning line being to the east of the afternoon 
one; in midwinter the divergence would be about 
one-third of this amount. It will thus be seen 
















































































PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


49 

that the diurnal variation is of sufficient importance to be taken into account in 
accurate land surveys. 

In Germany mine surveying has become such an art that some of the principal mines 
maintain small magnetic observatories, where the declination is recorded continuously 
throughout the day by photographic means. The mine surveyor then uses the value 
of the declination to the nearest minute prevailing at the time of day when he is running 
his line. 

Where the needle points west of north, the times of maximum and minimum value 
of the magnetic declination will be reversed from what they are at Baldwin, the minimum 
occurring in the morning and the maximum in the afternoon. Of the two lines a mile 
long, considered above, the morning line will, however, again be east of the afternoon 
line. 

The times when the declination reaches its extreme values, or when it reaches its 
average value, as is evident from Table III, are subject to fluctuations in the course of 
the year, being retarded during the months when the sun is south of the equator. 
These changes, which undergo a complete cycle in the course of one year, likewise 
manifest themselves in the magnitude of the diurnal range, approximately shown by the 
figures given in the bottom line of the table. 

The approximate local mean time when the average declination is reached, in the 
United States is, on the average for the year, at about 10:30 a. m., and again about 
about 6 p. m. (See next table.) 

The following comparative table, No. IV, of the diurnal variation was prepared by 
Schott a in order “to exhibit the changes which the total solar-diurnal variation under¬ 
goes with a change of geographical position within the region of North America.” 
The series of observations which he admitted ‘ ‘ extend over one or more years, and in 
no instance have any so-called disturbances been excluded.” “The year or years of 
each series is added to admit of a correction for position in the sun-spot period. ’ ’ 

The particulars for each station are as follows: 


Name 

Latitude 

Longitude 
W. of Gr. 

Magnetic 

Dip 

Diurnal 
Range of 
Declina¬ 
tion 

Extent of series 

Key West, Fla. 

0 / 

24 33 -I 

0 / 

81 48.5 

0 / 

54 32 

/ 

4-7 

Mar., i860, to Mar., 1866, exclusive 

Los Angeles, Cal. 

34 03.0 

118 15.4 

59 30 

5-8 

Oct., 1882, to Oct , 1889, exclusive 

Washington, D. C. 

38 53 - 6 

77 00.6 

71 19 

7-5 

July, 1840, to June, 1842, inclusive 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

39 58.4 

75 10.2 

7 i 58 

7-8 

Jan., 1840, to June, 1845, inclusive 

Madison, Wis. 

43 ° 4 - 5 

89 24.2 

73 56 

6.7 

Mar., 1877, to Mar., 1878, exclusive 

Toronto, Canada 

43 39-4 

79 23.5 

75 15 

8.8 

July, 1842, to June, 1848, inclusive 

Sitka, Alaska 

57 02.9 

135 19-7 

75 55 

10.6 

Irregular series, 1848 to 1862 

Uglaamie, Point Barrow 

71 17.7 

156 39 - 8 

81 24 

40.1 

Sept., 1882, to Aug., 1883, inclusive 

Plover Point, Point Barrow 

71 21.4 

156 16.1 

81 36 

38.6 

17 months, 1852-1854 

Fort Rae, Great Slave Lake 

62 38.9 

115 13-8 

82 54 

41.4 

Oct., 1882, to Sept., 1883, inclusive 

Kingua Fjord, Cumberland 
Sound 

Fort Conger, Grinnell Land 

66 35-7 

67 19. 2 

83 5i 

43-7 

Do. 

81 44.0 

64 43-8 

85 01 

98.8 

Sept., 1881, to Aug., 1882, inclusive 


a See Appendix No. 9, Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1890, pp, 261-264. 


121220°—19 - 4 













50 PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Table IV .—Total solar-diurnal variation of the magnetic declination , on the yearly 
average , at prominent places in North America. 

[A + sign indicates a deflection of the north-seeking end of the magnet toward the east, a — sign the contrary direction.] 


Local mean 
time. 

1. Key West, 
Fla. 

2. Los Angeles, 
Cal. 

3. Washington, 

D.C. 

4. Philadelphia, 

Pa. 

5. Madison, Wis. 

6. Toronto, Can¬ 

ada 

7. Sitka, Alaska 

8. Uglaamie, 

Point Barrow 

9. Plover Point, 

Point Barrow 

10. Fort Rae, 

Great Slave 

Lake 

11. Kingua 

Fjord, Cum¬ 

berland Sound 

12. Fort Conger, 

Grinnell Land 

Average values, 

stations i to 6, 

inclusive 


/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

f 

I a. m. 

+0.0 

+0.0 

+ 0.7 

+0.6 

+0.1 

+0.6 

+0. 2 

-12.8 

— 8.0 

— II.0 

+11.7 

+ 43-2 

+o. 35 

2 a. m. 

— 0.0 

+0.1 

+0.7 

+0.5 

0.0 

+0.5 

+ 1.0 

- 4-9 

- 1.9 

-6.6 

d - !5 • 8 

+45.1 

+0.05 

3 a. m. 

+0.1 

+0. 2 

+0.9 

+0.6 

+0. 2 

- 4 - 0.8 

+ 1-4 

+ 3-3 

+ 3-6 

+ 0.8 

+ 18.0 

+41.2 

+0.07 

4 a. m. 

+0. 2 

+ 0.3 

+ 1.2 

+1.0 

+ 0.5 

+1.2 

+2.0 

+ 6. 2 

+ 10.9 

+ 7-4 

+19. 1 

+ 25.7 

+0 .75 

5 a. m. 

+ 0.4 

+0.6 

+ 1-7 

+i -5 

+ 1.0 

+1.8 

+ 2.9 

+H -3 

+16.6 

+ 13-6 

+ 19-3 

+ 31 - 6 

+ 1.19 

6 a. m. 

+ 1.0 

+ 1-3 

+2.1 

+2.1 

+ 1.4 

+2.7 

+ 4-2 

+21.6 

+ 19-3 

+21.0 

+20.1 

+ 19-7 

+ I -79 

7 a. m. 

+ 2.1 

+2.4 

+ 2.8 

+ 3-3 

+2. 6 

+ 3-5 

+ 5-3 

+26.1 

+27.1 

+26. 2 

+ 19-9 

+26.6 

+2.80 

8 a. m. 

+2.5 

+3.1 

+3.2 

+3.5 

+3.2 

+3.8 

+6.0 

+26.7 

+27.0 

+29.4 

+ 17-4 

+ 18.7 

+3.24 

9 a. m. 

+2. 2 

+2.6 

+ 2.3 

+2.8 

+ 3 -o 

+ 3 -° 

+ 5 - 3 

+26.1 

+ 19-9 

+ 25-5 

+10.8 

+ 1-2 

+2.67 

10 a. m. 

+1.1 

+1.1 

+0.9 

+0.8 

+ 1-7 

— 0. 8 

+ 3 -o 

+ 9-9 

+ 9-3 

+16.8 

+ 3-7 

—12.7 

+ 1.09 

11 a. m. 

—0. 2 

— 0. 8 

- 1-3 

—1.6 

-0.7 

— 2.0 

+0.6 

+ 1-4 

-0.4 

+ 8.0 

+ i -3 

-21.4 

—1.08 

Noon 

— 1.4 

—2 2 

“ 3-2 

- 3-4 

-2.5 

—4.2 

—2.1 

- 5-9 

— 8. 2 

— 0.9 

- 9.0 

—40.7 

—2. 80 

1 p. m. 

—2.1 

—2.7 

—4.3 

—4.3 

—3.5 

—5.0 

-+2 

- 7.3 

— 10.7 

— 4.0 

-15.1 

- 45-6 

-3.63 

2 p. m. 

-2.2 

—2.6 

—4.3 

-4.1 

—3.5 

-4.8 

— 4.2 

— 7-7 

- 9.8 

- 8.1 

—21. 2 

-49.2 

- 3-56 

3 P- m - 

-1.9 

—2.0 

- 3-5 

— 3 -i 

—2. 6 

- 3-8 

—4.6 

- 7-3 

— 9.9 

—10. 6 

—20.4 

- 45-8 

—2. 80 

4 p. m. 

-i -3 

—1.1 

—2.5 

—2. 2 

— 1.6 

—2.5 

—4.6 

- 9.1 

- 9.8 

-H -3 

—20.6 

— 53.7 

-1.85 

5 P- m. 

— 0.8 

—o -5 

- 1-5 

—1.0 

—0.7 

-i -3 

- 3-8 

-9.9 

—10.2 

— 12.1 

—23.6 

- 23-7 

—o -95 

6 p. m. 

—0.4 

—0.2 

—0.8 

—0.4 

—0. 2 

—o -3 

- 3-2 

-9.9 

- 9-7 

— 12.9 

— 19.4 

— 17-3 

—0. 36 

7 p. in. 

— 0.2 

—0.0 

0.0 

+0.0 

+0. 2 

+0. 2 

—2.4 

- 8.4 

- 8.4 

—12.5 

— 16.1 

— 27. 2 

+0.05 

8 p. m. 

+0.1 

+0.1 

+0.6 

+0.8 

+0. 2 

+0.7 

—1.4 

— 6.0 

-9.0 

— 11.0 

— 15-5 

- 3-5 

+ 0.44 

9 p. m. 

+0.2 

+0.1 

+ 1.0 

+0.6 

+0. 6 

+ 1.2 

—0.8 

- 8.1 

- 7-5 

— 12.0 

-8.8 

+ 3-5 

+0.64 

10 p. m. 

+0.2 

+0.1 

+1.1 

+1. 2 

+0.7 

+ 1 * 3 

—0.4 

— 10.9 

- 7-9 

-11.9 

— 0.6 

+22.4 

+0. 79 

11 p. m. 

+0. 2 

+0.1 

+1.1 

+0.7 

+0. 2 

+1.2 

—0. 6 

- 9 -1 

—11.5 

-11.9 

+ 3-9 

+30.0 

+0. 60 

Midnight 

+0.1 

+0.0 

+1.0 

+0.6 

+0.1 

+0.8 

—0. 6 

— 13.4 

—10.8 

— 12.0 

+ 9.2 

+32.6 

+0. 45 

Range 

4-7 

5-8 

7-5 

7.8 

6-7 

8.8 

10.6 

40.1 

38.6 

41.4 

43-7 

98.8 

6.9 


Schott’s deductions from this table are: 

“ A perusal of the tabular values for the localities marked i to 6, and which repre¬ 
sent all that part of the United States and Canada which lies south of the forty-ninth 
parallel, shows a very close accord of the diurnal variation, having an average maximum 
easterly deflection of 3'. 2 at about y h .g in the morning and an average maximum west¬ 
erly deflection of 3'.6 at about i h .4 in the afternoon, although the dip varies 20^° 
between these geographical limits. At Sitka the range reaches already 10'.6 and 
beyond, with a dip of 8o° and more, the diurnal range rapidly rises, attaining i° 40' 
nearly at Fort Conger. At the higher (magnetic) latitude stations there is a tendency 
to shift the morning extreme to an earlier hour and the afternoon opposite extreme to 
a later hour than the corresponding times just cited. A remarkable feature in the 
diurnal variation (yearly average) is the close correspondence in the local times when 
the needle passes the average magnetic meridian (tabular values passing from + to — 


sign); these times are: h m 

For Key West 10 51 

Los Angeles 10 35 

Washington 10 25 

Philadelphia 10 20 

Madison 10 43 

Toronto 10 17 

S 

Average 10 32 
























PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


51 

“ This time is subject to an annual inequality which at Los Angeles in the summer 
months displaces it to about io h oo m , and in the winter months to about n h 30 m .” 

The diurnal range of the magnetic declination as is seen in Table IV, increases 
with an approach to the magnetic pole and decreases toward the magnetic equator. 
If ^represents the diurnal range, /, the dip and <f>, the “magnetic” latitude as found 
from the formula tan <f>= J A tan /, then the following formula: 

d= 2'.58 sec 2 <f> 

will give a fair representation of the law according to which the diurnal range varies 
with magnetic latitude or dip. 

The diurnal range increases with an approach toward the magnetic pole because 
the horizontal component of the magnetic force, which holds the compass needle in place, 
diminishes with a movement in this direction, whereas the deflecting forces w'hich cause 
the diurnal variation increase, and thus their effect increases with increase of magnetic 
latitude. The only horizontal force acting on the compass needle at the magnetic pole 
is that due to the diurnal variation, and to magnetic perturbations, so that, if the needle 
were suspended with sufficient delicacy it might pass back and forth through all points 
of the compass in the course of the day. 

The average value, for the year, of the diurnal range is* subject to a mysterious 
fluctuation, being greater in years of maximum frequency of sun spots, and less in 
times of minimum frequency or minimum solar activity as exhibited by sun spots. The 
next table, V, shows this. The numbers in column R , due to Wolf, represent the vari¬ 
ation for the years given in the sun-spot frequency. Thus in the year 1843, a minimum 
sun-spot year, it is found that the range of declination at Philadelphia reached its 
smallest value. The period 1883-1884 was a maximum sun-spot year, and it is seen 
that the range at Los Angeles reached its maximum value during this time. 


Table V .—Showing how the diurnal range of the magnetic declination varies during the 

SJin-spot period—{about 11 years'). 


Year 


1840 

1841 

1842 

1843 

1844 

1845 


Philadelphia 


Los Angeles 


d 

Diurnal range 
of declination 

R 

Relative sun¬ 
spot frequency 
numbers 

t 

9 - 1 

' 61.8 

8. 1 

38.5 

7.8 

23.O 

7 . 5 

13. 1 

7-5 

19-3 

8-5 

38.3 


Year 

(Oct. to Oct.) 

d 

Diurnal range 
of declination 

R 

Relative sun¬ 
spot frequency 
numbers 

1882-83. 

6-5 

60. 7 

1883-84. 

7 . 1 

68. 2 

1884-85. 

6.9 

53-7 

1885-86. 

5-8 

32.4 

1886-87. 

5-4 

14.3 

1887-88. 

5-4 

7-3 

1888-89. 

5 - 1 

7-4 































52 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


According to the researches of two Russians, Leyst and Passalskij, the diurnal 
variation is different over locally disturbed areas, e. g., in regions of iron mines, from 
what it would be if the disturbances did not exist. Hence in such regions, the con¬ 
tinuous records of distant magnetic observatories can not be utilized for referring the 
magnetic elements to the mean value for the day, or to some other period of time, but, 
special observations for this purpose must be made in the disturbed locality. Whether 
the secular change is likewise different over locally disturbed regions from what it 
would be if the local disturbance were not present, is not yet known. 


Just as the declination suffers change from hour to hour throughout the day, so 
likewise are the other elements of the Earth’s magnetism, the dip and the intensity, 
affected. 

The diurnal variation, as has been shown, progresses according to the hours of 
local mean time, or, in other words, is connected in some manner with the Earth’s rota¬ 
tion whereby different parts of its surface are exposed to the action of the Sun’s rays, 
and it may be presumed, therefore, that the Sun plays a prominent part in causing the 
daily variation in the Earth’s magnetic state. The precise manner in which the Sun 
brings about this variation has not yet been satisfactorily explained in spite of the 
researches of the most eminent investigators. The most commonly accepted opinion is 
that the diurnal variation is due to a peculiar system of electric currents in the upper 
regions of the atmosphere, the precise way in which their existence is brought about 
not being, however, as yet clear.® 

The diurnal variation furnishes the first evidence that the Earth’s magnetism is in 
close touch with outside influences and responds in a most mysterious and sympathetic 
manner with changes ever going on in the upper regions. The facts related in the 
following pages give further evidence on this subject. 

Annual Variation. 

If the monthly values of the magnetic declination be corrected for the secular 
change in the course of the year, they exhibit a slight variation, having the year as 
the period, known as the annual variation of the magnetic declination. This is not to 
be confounded with the annual change of the declination, which means the change in 
one year due to the secular variation. The latter is a progressive change, so that the 
needle at the end of the year does not point the same way that it did at the beginning, 
while the annual variation is a cyclical change, that is, as far as the annual variation is 
concerned, the needle returns to the same position virtually at the end of the year that 
it had at the beginning. The next table shows how minute a quantity this annual 
variation is, and that it can be neglected for all practical purposes. 

a The reader who is interested in the latest theoretical developments might be referred to Schuster’s 
paper in Phil. Trans. R. S., Part A, 1889; von Bezold’s papers, Berlin Academy of Sciences, 1897, and 
Nippoldt’s papers, Terrestrial Magnetism, Vol. VII. A summary of Schuster’s and von Bezold’s 
researches will be found in Gray’s Magnetism and Electricity, Vol. I, 1898. 




PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 53 

Table VI .—Annual variation of the magnetic declination at several places in the northern 

magnetic hemisphere. a 


[A + sign denotes a deflection of the north end of the magnet to the eastward , a — sign, the contrary direction.] 


Month 

Los 

Angeles, 

Cal. 

1882-1889 

Key West, 
Fla. 

1862-1865 

Washing¬ 
ton, D. C. 
1840-1842, 
1867-1868 

Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa. 
1840-1845 

Toronto, 

Canada 

1845-1851, 

1856-1864, 

1865-1871 

Dublin, 

Ireland 

1841-1850 

Kew, 

England 

1858-1862 

January 

/ 

+0.6 

— 0. 6 

t 

+0.6 

/ 

- 0.5 

/ 

O. O 

1 

To. 4 

/ 

O. O 

February 

-j-o. 2 

— 0. 6 

To. 3 

—0.4 

-j-o. 2 

+ 1.6 

— 0. 6 

March 

—0.4 

To. 1 

T°. 2 

To. 1 

+0.1 

Ti -7 

—0.5 

April 

—0.4 

To. 3 

—0.1 

To. 1 

0.0 

Tl .9 

0.0 

May 

—0.4 

To. 3 

—0.4 

— 0.2 

To. 3 

ti -3 

To. 7 

June 

—0.4 

+0.2 

—0.1 

+0.6 

To. 5 

0.0 

+0.8 

July 

—0.4 

To. 3 

T°. 2 

-[•1.0 

T°- 4 

—1. 2 

T1.2 

August 

— 0.1 

To. 8 

To. 7 

T°- 9 

0.0 

— 2. 2 

To. 3 

September 

+o -3 

To. 7 

-0.4 

0.0 

—0.4 

—2.1 

—0.2 

October 

+0.4 

-0.5 

—0.2 

—J - O. 2 

—0. 6 

— 1.4 

-0.8 

November 

+0.5 

—0.5 

—0.2 

—0.9 

—0.4 

-0.3 

— 0.6 

December 

-j-o. 6 

—0.3 

-0.3 

-0.7 

— 0.1 

+0. 2 

—0.7 


It is seen that the total range of the annual variation is a very small quantity, 
about 1' for the North American stations. The character of the variation appears to 
be different for each station. This may possibly be because the tabular results do not 
refer in each case to the same interval of time, and because they were not deduced by 
one common method. 

According to the recent investigations of Dr. Schwalbe, the forces which bring 
about this variation are situated outside the earth. 

Minor Periodic Fluctuations. 

Chief among these may be mentioned the variation depending upon the position of 
the Moon with reference to the Sun and the Barth. The range, or difference between 
the extreme values, of this variation is so minute that it has required many years 
of continuous and carefully made observations to detect it. 

Magnetic Storms. 

Generally speaking these may occur at any time and are frequently accompanied 
by auroral displays. Such storms may at times have a very wide circle of action and 
occur practically simultaneously over the whole area. Thus on December 3, 1896, 
while the writer was on .liis way to Salisbury, Md., to make magnetic observations, he 
saw a most brilliant aurora, and the next day while making magnetic observations the 
behavior of the needle indicated that a magnetic storm was prevailing. This storm it 
was afterwards ascertained occurred at foreign observatories practically simultaneously 
with its occurrence in Maryland. 

The fluctuations caused by these spasmodic variations in the Earth’s magnetism 
may in the United States occasionally amount to as much as 10-20' and even more. 

"From Coast and Geodetic .Survey Report for 1890, p. 249. The matter contained in Tables IV 
and V was taken from the same source. 




















54 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Thus, on October 12, 1896, the writer made observations at Oakland, Md., at various 
times during the day. The diurnal variation on that day was completely reversed, the 
maximum value of west declination occurring in the morning instead of in the after¬ 
noon, and the minimum value in the afternoon instead of the morning. The observa¬ 
tion in the morning required a correction of —16'. 

Small, spasmodic fluctuations occur frequently; in fact, scarcely a day passes with¬ 
out them. 

It is due largely to these irregular disturbances, the coming of which can % not be 
predicted, that it is not possible to give by a general system of rules accurate reductions 
of an observed declination to the mean value for the day. 

The duration of the irregular fluctuations may be but an instant, a few hours, or 
several days. They generally reveal their presence by a sudden and marked departure 
of the needle from its true normal position. While these fluctuations make their 
appearance apparently at random, nevertheless when they are treated statistically it is 
found that they exhibit well-marked periodicities in their occurrences. They are more 
frequent and more violent in the years of maximum solar activity, as indicated by sun 
spots, and less frequent and less violent in years of minimum activity. In November, 
1882, near the period of maximum sun spots, a magnetic storm occurred which caused 
the magnetic needle at Los Angeles, Cal., to move over ij^° out of its normal 
position. There was at the time a brilliant auroral display. This storm occurred over 
the entire Earth, at Los Angeles, Toronto, London, St. Petersburg, Bombay, Hong¬ 
kong, and Melbourne, and began at practically the same instant of absolute time. Then 
again they appear subject to periodic variations, such as the daily and the annual. 
They apparently occur more frequently toward evening and less frequently toward 
noon; also more frequently in equinoctial months and less frequently in solstitial 
months. Perhaps a good idea of the frequency and magnitude of the irregular dis¬ 
turbances is obtained from Schott’s table , a based on the observations made every two 
hours at Philadelphia, under Bache, between the six years 1840 to 1845. 


Deviations from normal 

Number of dis¬ 

direction. 

' ' 

turbances. 

3. 6 to 10. 8 

2189 

10. 8 to 18. 1 

147 

18. 1 to 25. 3 

18 

25. 3 to 32. 6 

3 

Beyond, 

O 


It should be recalled that the period of minimum sun-spot activity occurred in the 
midst of this series; otherwise the disturbances would have been more frequent and 
greater. Schott cites the following maximum deflections: 

o / 

At Key West, between i860 and 1866. o 21.4 

At Madison, Wis., on May 28, 1877. o 24 

At Madison, Wis., on October 12, 1877. o 48 

At Lady Franklin Bay, during great storm in November, 1882, Greely 

noted a deflection of. 20 28 


«Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1888, App. 7. 







PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


55 


G. R. Putnam, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, cites a change of over 3 0 in 
twenty minutes at Niantilik on September 18, 1896. “At 7 h 35 m a. m. local mean 
time, the needle pointed 6o° 35' west of north, while at 7 h 55 m , it pointed 63° 50' west 
of north, and the total range for the day was over 4^°. On this date there was an 
unusual magnetic disturbance, the extreme range in declination at Washington being 
38' for the entire day, and 19' for the portion of the day corresponding to the interval 
during which observations were made at Niantilik. It will be noted that the range in 
declination was nearly fifteen times as great as at Washington during the same interval.” 
The geographical position of Niantilik is 64° 53/5 north and 66° 19/5 west of Green¬ 
wich, and the dip on September 18, 1896, was 83° 54/8. 

Some other interesting cases of magnetic storms will be given in the section on 
“ Magnetic Observatories.” 

The cause of these remarkable phenomena of the Earth’s magnetism whereby the 
whole magnetic system of the Earth is deranged at a moment’s notice is shrouded in 
mystery. There are clearly three kinds of magnetic storms: (1) Cosmic ones, due to 
changes occurring in the regions above; (2) telluric ones, resulting from changes 
within the interior of the Earth, and (3) regional or local ones, resulting from changes 
within or external to the Earth’s crust, whose field of action is limited to a restricted 
region of the Earth and the center or focus of which, while sometimes stationary, 
generally travels from place to place. 

The principal phases of a storm of the first kind occur simultaneously over the 
Earth, within one or two minutes of time. Doubtless if arrangements could be made 
to time these principal phases at places over the entire Earth with greater accuracy than 
the ordinary photo-magnetic records will admit of, the correspondence in time would 
be within a few seconds. During the prevalence of these magnetic storms strongly 
marked variations in the electric currents within the Earth’s crust manifest themselves 
along with the variations of the magnetic needle. Eord Kelvin has calculated the 
amount of energy required to produce the magnetic storm of June 25, 1885, if it were 
to be referred to direct action of the sun. Quoting from Gray’s Magnetism and 
Electricity: 

“The horizontal force at the following eleven places: St. Petersburg, Stonyhurst, 
Wilhelmshaven, Utrecht, Kew, Vienna, Lisbon, San Fernando, Colaba, Batavia, and 
Melbourne, increased considerably from 2 to 2.10 p. m., and fell from 2:10 to 3 p. m., 
with irregular changes in the interval. 

“The mean value at all these places was .0005 above par at 2:10 and .005 below 
par at 3 p. m. The changes as shown by the photographic records were simultaneous 
at the different places. Assuming these electrical oscillations of the Sun, Eord Kelvin 
estimates that the electrical activity of the Sun during the storm, which lasted about 
eight hours, must have been about 160X10 24 horsepower, or about 12X10 35 ergs 
per second; that is, about 364 times the activity of the total solar radiation, which is 
estimated at about 3Xio 33 ergs per second. The electrical energy thus given out by 
the Sun in such a storm would supply, if transformed to the electrical vibrations of 
shorter period concerned in its ordinary radiation, the whole light and heat radiated 
during a period of four months. This, as Eord Kelvin remarks, is conclusive against 
the hypothesis that these violent magnetic disturbances are due to direct action of the 
Sun.” 


56 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 

V 

The probability is that a solar ray endowed with greater or less energy than ordi¬ 
narily and of the necessary kind acted as the ‘ ‘ trigger to the gun ’ ’ to set off mighty 
electric forces whose presence in the upper regions is becoming more and more manifest 
every day. 

A magnetic storm of the second category is associated with changes within the 
Earth, cataclysms, earthquakes, volcanic outbreaks, etc. The phases may occur 
simultaneously over very large portions of the Earth, or progress from place to place 
according to a certain rate. Remarkable coincident effects observed during the May 
eruption in Martinique will be found further on. Hansteen declared ‘ ‘ that the 
variations of the magnetic needle are a mute language revealing to us the changes 
perpetually going on in the interior of the Earth.” Another great student of nature, 
Clerk Maxwell says: ‘‘The never-resting heart of the Earth traces in telegraphic 
symbols the record of its pulsations, and also the slow but mighty working of the 
changes which warn us not to suppose that the inner history of our planet is ended.” 

Magnetic disturbances of the third kind, as stated, take place over a limited area, 
and are associated with phenomena occurring within the Earth, as enumerated in the 
previous paragraph, or with phenomena in the upper regions. In the case of these 
storms the passing of the principal phases from place to place may take a measurable 
amount of time. Storms of the first and second kind may bring about storms of the 
third kind as secondary phenomena. 

Dr. Schmidt made a mathematical analysis of various magnetic storms, and in 
particular of the one which occurred on February 28, 1896, and whose course was 
followed one hour, from 6 to 7 p. m., Greenwich time, at the suggestion of Professor 
Eschenhagen, simultaneously by 15 observatories distributed over the Earth. His 
investigations clearly showed that the disturbance vectors at times converged to a 
point, at other times radiated from a point, and in times of magnetic calms (compara¬ 
tively speaking) the vectors at the various stations were almost parallel to each other, 
as though pointing to a distant force center; furthermore, that the points of con¬ 
vergence in general moved progressively forward with a velocity of about 1 kilometer 
in a second, and also that they were at times nearly stationary. In view of the fact 
that the cause of the diurnal variation of the Earth’s magnetism must apparently be 
referred to electric currents in the upper regions of the atmosphere, Dr. Schmidt 
believes that the immediate cause of the magnetic storms is to be referred to electric 
whirls or vortices which separate themselves from the general electric field in the 
atmosphere just as do the cyclones and anticyclones known to meteorologists. Taking 
also into consideration the vertical disturbing components and applying Ampere’s rule 
to the current systems revealed by the disturbing forces, it follows that for the greater 
part of our observed magnetic storms the causes come from the outside of the 
Earth’s crust, 

MAGNETIC OBSERVATORIES. 

These institutions are designed especially to secure a record of the changes ever going 
on in the magnetic condition of the Earth. It was recognized at an early date that the 
problems of terrestrial magnetism, like those of meteorology, have a world-wide interest 
and bearing, and so require for their successful and complete solution the united and 
harmonious efforts of all nations. 



t 



FIG. 12.—COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY AT CHELTENHAM, MARYLAND. 
















PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


57 


Under the powerful initiative of von Humboldt, Gauss, Herschell, Kupffer, and 
Sabine, a number of institutions were accordingly established in the fourth decade of 
the last century in different parts of the Earth, whose special purpose it was to record 
the ever-occurring magnetic variations. To cooperate with these foreign observatories 
a magnetic observatory—due to the enthusiasm of Professor Bache—was founded in this 
country at Girard College, Philadelphia. The results from these observatories amply 
showed the wisdom of international cooperation. At the present time® a special effort 
at a systematic study of the magnetic variations, according to a uniform plan, has again 
been originated, this time in cooperation with the various Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey has at present® four magnetic observatories taking 
part in this international work, viz, at Cheltenham, Maryland, 17 miles southeast of 
Washington; at Baldwin, Kansas, 17 miles south of Lawrence; at Sitka, Alaska, and 
in the Hawaiian Islands, at a site about 14 miles west of Honolulu. The first named, 
the Cheltenham Observatory, is one of the most complete and elaborately constructed 
magnetic observatories in existence, and its scope of work will include, besides the 
observation of magnetic phenomena, also seismic ones, and such as are related to 
atmospheric and to telluric electricity. 

The illustration, Fig. 12, gives a view of the Cheltenham Magnetic Observatory, 
the-larger building being the so-called “Variation Observatory,” in which are mounted 
the self-registering photo-magnetic instruments, and the smaller building containing the 
office in the middle, flanked by two wings in which the absolute magnetic observa¬ 
tions are made. The Variation Observatory consists of two rooms, each 16 by 19 feet; 
in the north room is mounted a magnetograph of the Eschenhagen pattern, and in the 
south room has been installed the Adie magnetograph, adapted for photographic regis¬ 
tration and for eye readings, formerly at Eos Angeles (1882-1889) and at San Antonio 
(1890-1895). 

As the variations in the intensity of the magnetic force recorded on magnetic 
instruments are partly due to the changes in the magnetic moment of the suspended 
magnets due to temperature changes, it is necessary to either provide some means for 
determining these artificial changes and make corrections, or to institute the necessary 
arrangements for preserving a constant temperature in the observing room. 

In the case of the Cheltenham Observatory, the attempt has been made to secure in 
an above-ground structure freedom from moisture and a uniformity of temperature 
within certain practical limits without employing any other means than that derived 
from the insulation of the specially constructed walls of the variation observatory 
building: In addition, thermographs register continuously any remaining temperature 
fluctuations inside the magnetograph rooms, with the aid of which any necessary 
reductions of the magnetic intensity variations to a selected standard temperature can 
be made. The drawing of the plans and the erection of the observatory were intrusted 
to J. A. Fleming, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the results obtained thus far 
show that his method of construction was a successful one. 

The wall insulation of the variation observatory is as follows: Beginning at 
outside of building, pine weatherboarding, 8-ply building paper, i-inch pine sheathing, 
8-inch air shaft, i-inch pine sheathing, 8-ply paper, 3 feet pine sawdust, 8-ply paper, 
^6-inch pine ceiling, 3 feet 2 inches air space of passageway, -inch pine ceiling, 8-ply 
paper, 1 foot pine sawdust, 8-ply paper, ^-inch pine ceiling; slat ventilators or louvre 


“1902. 





PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


58 

windows, so arranged and provided with closely fitting shutters that during the winter 
the 8-inch air shaft referred to can be made practically air-tight, while during sum¬ 
mer when opened these tend to admit of the passage and circulation of a cooling draft 
around building. The insulation beginning at the roof and going down is: Gravel and 
asphalt pitch roof, i-inch pine sheathing, 3 feet 8 inches air space communicating with 
8-inch air shaft around building and provided with six louvre windows with close-fitting 
shutters as on those at bottom of air shaft, 1 inch rough pine floor, 3-foot filling of pine 
sawdust, 8-ply paper, fa -inch pine ceiling, 3-foot air space above rooms, i-inch rough 
pine floor, 1 foot 6 inches pine sawdust, 8-ply paper, ^ 4 -inch ceiling. Insulation from 
bottom of foundation is 2 feet 8 inches of earth, 6-inch to 8-inch layer of screened gravel, 
about 3 feet pine sawdust, i-inch pine under floor, 8-ply paper, ^4-inch pine tongue- 
and-groove floor. 

The greatest danger to fulfillment of the above results lay in the necessity of pro¬ 
viding openings through walls for ventilation of rooms and for means of ingress and 
egress. Four shafts, each 5 by 10 inches and about 16 feet long, furnish air supply to 
passageway through wooden floor grates. These are provided with heavy rabbeted 
shutters made to fit very closely and fitted with refrigerator fasteners, so that they may be 
made air-tight. They are also provided at inlet with copper-wire screens of double thick¬ 
ness to break force of a wind blowing toward opening and to keep out such vermin as field 
mice. Ventilation of passageway is effected by four shafts opening into air space below 
roof, each 6 by 10 inches and about 16 feet long, provided with close-fitting slides. 
Ventilation of air space below roof is effected by three 14-inch copper “Star” ventila¬ 
tors. By the judicious use of these air-supplies and ventilators the danger of direct 
conduction of temperature changes through shafts can be entirely eliminated. Ventila¬ 
tion of magnetograph rooms from and into passageway is effected in each room by four 
3-inch square vertical shafts in sawdust packing having inlet or outlet just below ceiling 
or above baseboard, according to arrangement of four closing slides provided for each. 

To carry off gases of combustion from lamps of magnetographs, 3-inch copper 
ventilators are provided. 

Entrance into building is had through a vestibule on the south side, as shown in 
Fig. 12, of 10 feet by 13 feet 8 inches outside dimension. Walls of entrance are built 
similarly to those of main building without the air shaft and but 2 feet of sawdust 
packing. The outside door can be closed before opening a second door leading into a 
small entrance hall, which is 6 feet wide and 11 feet long; from this room a third door 
leads into an opening in the sawdust packing, whence a fourth door opens into the 
passageway around the rooms. In placing these doors particular care was taken to make 
them close fitting. Entrance into either of the magnetograph rooms is to be had only 
from the hall between the two rooms through 8-inch refrigerator patterned doors packed 
with sawdust. 

The diurnal change of the temperature has thus been reduced to a matter of a few 
tenths of a degree, and in fact it is believed that even this small variation will be elimi¬ 
nated as soon as some other source of light than the present lamps has been introduced. 
It has been repeatedly found that any sudden change of temperature which may amount 
to 5o°-6o° F. outside only makes itself felt gradually inside, and then does not amount 
to much over o°.5, and may be even less than this amount. The annual range ha s 














































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* 

















































































FIG. 13.—ESCHENHAGEN MAGNETOGRAPH AT COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY, BALDWIN, KANSAS. 



















PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 59 

been converted into a gradual progressive change, for which allowance can easily be 
made, and amounting to between one-half and one-third of what it would be outside. 

Fig. 13, which shows the magnetograph of the Eschenhagen pattern in place at 
the Baldwin Observatory, will exhibit the precise arrangement of the instruments. 

The two instruments on the left are the declination variometer, by means of which 
the variations in magnetic declination are obtained, and the horizontal intensity 
variometer (one in the middle of view) giving the changes in horizontal component of 
the Earth’s magnetic force. The magnets in both instruments are laminar pieces of 
well-hardened watch-spring steel, about an inch long (25”"") and about one-fourth of an 
inch wide and about one-sixty-fourth of an inch thick—quite a difference from the 
meter-long magnets used in Gauss’s time. The magnets are suspended by fine quartz 
fibers passing through the glass suspension tubes, and swing in copper damping boxes. 
The magnet in the declination instrument hangs in the magnetic meridian, whereas in 
the horizontal intensity instrument the magnet is turned at right angles to the magnetic 
meridian by means of torsion of the quartz fiber. A third instrument for registering 
the variation in vertical intensity completes the set. 

On the right of the view are shown the lamp and the recording apparatus. A spot 
of light supplied by the lamp falls on the mirrors attached to the magnets, and is 
reflected onto the drum or cylinder inside the recording apparatus, a sensitized sheet of 
paper (platinum bromide) 15 by 52 cm being wrapped around the drum and the drum 
revolving either once in twenty-four hours or once in two hours, according to circum¬ 
stances. As the magnet swings to and fro, the spot of light passes back and forth on 
the sensitized sheet, producing a curved or devious line full of peaks and hollows dur¬ 
ing time of magnetic disturbance. To provide a base line from which to count the 
changes, a second spot of light coming from a fixed mirror attached to each instrument 
traces its record on the revolving cylinder as a straight line. 

A shutter operating automatically cuts off the light from the fixed mirror at 
intervals of one hour and thus the base line is interrupted, the distance between hourly 
breaks being about 20 mm , so that i mm of the base line represents 3 minutes of time, or 
o.i mm (the limit of reading), 18 seconds. If the drum revolves once in 2 hours, as it 
does during special work, then i mm of abscissa represents 15 seconds. One millimeter 
of ordinate, or of an inch, corresponds to a change of 1 minute in the magnetic decli¬ 
nation, and about .000025 c. g. s. units in the horizontal intensity, or about part 
of the absolute value of the horizontal intensity. As it is possible to estimate 3V of a 
millimeter, the magnetograms will ordinarily be read to o. 1 of a minute and to 
.0000025 c. g. s. units (s-nUif H). 

Figs. 14, 15, and 16 exhibit some of the interesting records already obtained. 
They are reproductions on half scale of the magnetograms obtained at the Cheltenham 
Magnetic Observatory with the Adie magnetograph. In this instrument each magnetic 
element (declination, horizontal and vertical intensity) is recorded on a separate 
photographic sheet, two days’ record being obtained on each sheet. Each figure is 
composed of three sheets. 

Fig. 14 is designed to show the character of the magnetic curves during a com¬ 
paratively undisturbed period, and especially to exhibit the slight effect due to the 
Guatemalan earthquake. Beginning on top there are two curves— the declination 


6 o 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


curves—marked respectively April 18 to 19 and April 17 to 18, next two straight lines 
similarly dated, which serve as the base lines for the curves. From the explanation 
given in the preceding paragraphs it will be evident that the curves result from the 
spot of light coming from the mirror attached to the magnet, whereas the straight lines 
are due to the spot of light from the fixed mirror. Considering simply the curve and 
base line, each dated April 18-19, and measuring the perpendicular distances or 
ordinates between the base line and the curve at the hourly intervals marked, beginning 
with 5 p. m., April 18, passing through midnight and continuing until 4 p. m. of the 
following day, then the difference of these ordinates will give the changes in the 
magnetic declination from hour to hour for the period of time, 1™ (one twenty-fifth of 
an inch) of ordinate on the original sheet being 1'. 13, and in the figures twice this 
amount, viz, 2'.26. If the entire ordinate be converted into minutes of arc and added 
to the base-line value, the actual magnetic declination for each hour from April 18, 
5 p. m., to April 19, 4 p. m., can be obtained. As the arrows on the side indicate, a 
rise in the curve means an increase of the declination (average value is about 5 0 .1 west), 
whereas a fall in the curve means a decrease. The hours as marked are for local mean 
time; to get seventy-fifth Meridian or Eastern standard time add 7.3 minutes. 

Thus at about 8 a. m., local mean time, the lowest value is reached, and between 
noon and 1 p. m. the highest one results, the total change amounting to 4""", or 9'.5. 

The same explanation will suffice for the next two curves (in the middle), the 
changes in the ordinates measured from the corresponding base lines giving the changes 
in the intensity of the horizontal component of the Earth’s magnetic force or the force 
acting on the compass needle. The bottom curve and base line records the changes in 
the vertical intensity, the vertical intensity curve for April 17 to 18 having been omitted 
purposely to avoid confusion. 

One millimeter of ordinate for either the horizontal or vertical intensity curve 
corresponds practically to 0.00005 c. g. s. unit, and on the original sheets to half of 
this amount. It will be noticed that the principal minimum of the horizontal intensity 
occurs at about 9 a. m. local mean time and the principal minimum of the vertical 
intensity curve occurs a little after 10 a. m. 

Comparing the three separate sets of curves, it will be seen that the middle one— 
horizontal intensity—shows a number of small fluctuations not occurring in the other 
curves, and in fact this curve is rarely without disturbances of some kind. 

Special attention is directed to the peculiar appearance of the curves (declination, 
horizontal intensity, and vertical intensity) between 9 and 10 p. m. on April 18, the 
curves being almost entirely obliterated for part of the way. This peculiar occurrence 
can be traced to the Guatemalan earthquake, the maximum effect of which was recorded 
at 9 h 40™ (seventy-fifth Meridian or Eastern time) on the Milne seismograph which 
Dr. H. F. Reid has had mounted at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 

The late Professor Eschenhagen, who examined a number of such cases of earth¬ 
quake effects registered on magnetic instruments, came to the conclusion that the effect 
was probably entirely a mechanical one, due to the vibration of the piers on which the 
instruments were mounted, and not a magnetic effect. 

Other breaks in the curves, e. g., about 5 p. m., 8 a. m., and 4 p. m., are the “ time 
breaks” and are purposely made in order to obtain the data for dividing up the base 
line into hourly intervals. (On the Eschenhagen magnetograph, as explained, this is 
done automatically.) 


FIG. 14—MAGNETOGRAMS SHOWING GUATEMALA EARTHQUAKE DISTURBANCE AT CHELTENHAM MAGNETIC OBSERVATORY, APRIL 18, 1902. 


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PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


6l 


Fig. 15 shows the curves on a disturbed day. hooking at the second curve from 
the top, it is seen that the declination curve runs along smoothly until somewhat after 
4 a. m., local mean time, April 10 (see second base line marked April 9-10), when it is 
suddenly interrupted. Thereafter it exhibits a number of fluctuations until the end of 
the curve. Continuing now on the upper curve marked April 10, still more marked 
fluctuations are exhibited until a little before 6 p. m., April 11 (first base line) the 
highest point is reached, the curve dropping thereafter. The change in declination 
between this point and the lowest one which occurred about four hours before is 
nearly 33'. 

Passing on to the two middle curves—the horizontal intensity—it is found that the 
fluctuations are even more marked than for the declination curves, the beginning taking 
place very abruptly. The vertical intensity curve likewise exhibits large fluctuations. 

This magnetic storm lasted about two days, and began practically simultaneously 
at the four magnetic observatories of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, viz, Cheltenham, 
Md.; Baldwin, Kans.; Sitka, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. At Sitka the 
disturbance in declination was 2 0 and over, part of the record being lost, having gone 
beyond the edge of the paper. 

Fig. 16 reproduces a magnetic disturbance, which, as in the previous case, began 
very abruptly (see especially fourth curve). Now, the remarkable thing is this, that 
the time of beginning of this storm was coincident, as far as can at present be ascer¬ 
tained, with the time of the eruption of Mont Pelee (Martinique) on May 8. The 
magnetic disturbance began simultaneously at the Cheltenham and at the Baldwin 
observatories at 7 11 55™ St. Pierre local mean time. According to the newspaper reports, 
the catastrophe befell St. Pierre about 8 a. m. of May 8, and it was stated that the town 
clock was found stopped at 7 h 50 m ; how accurately this clock kept local mean time is, of 
course, not known. This disturbance was purely a magnetic one and not a seismic one, 
like that shown in Fig. 14, and was not recorded on seismographs. The Cheltenham 
magnetograms exhibit fluctuations amounting at times from .0005 to .0006 c. g. s. unit 
(about 3I3 of the value of the horizontal intensity), and from 10' to 15' in declination. 

On the morning of May 20, from 4 11 o7 m to 4 h i6 m Eastern time, or 5 h 03” to 5 h I2 m 
St. Pierre local mean time, there again occurred a slight disturbance of the magnetic 
needles at the Cheltenham Magnetic Observatory, beginning abruptly and reaching its 
maximum effect at 5 h o7 m . From n h 57 m p. m., May 20, to o h 09™, May 21, Eastern 
time, or from o h 53 m to i h 05 111 a. m., May 21, St. Pierre local mean time, a similar but 
somewhat larger disturbance occurred. 

According to the cable dispatch from Governor E’Huerre, of the Island of Mar¬ 
tinique (mentioned in the Associated Press dispatches), sent from Fort de France and 
dated Tuesday, May 20, the second eruption of Mont Pelee apparently began about 
5 h i5 m a. m.—closely coincident with the time of the first magnetic disturbance given 
above. 

Respecting the second magnetic disturbance, about midnight of the 20th, it is of 
interest to note that almost continuous earthquake shocks were felt at St. Augustine, 
Fla., from 9 to midnight, May 20. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey has undertaken a special study of the interesting 
occurrences above described, and has sent a request for information to every magnetic 
observatory in foreign countries. 


62 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


MAGNETIC CHARTS. 

Isogonic Lines. 

The most convenient form in which to represent magnetic data for practical use, 
namely, by drawing lines through the places having the same magnetic declination, 
the same magnetic dip, or the same magnetic intensity, is generally supposed to have 
been employed for the first time by Dr. Edmund Halley, the noted astronomer, who, 
at the beginning of the eighteenth century, published two charts of the “lines of equal 
magnetic variation (declination),” which are here called, respectively, the “Atlantic 
Chart” and the “World Chart.” According to Hellmann, however, Christoforo Borri, 
of Milan, appears to have made the first attempt to construct lines of equal magnetic 
declination, but did not publish them. 

The “Atlantic Chart,” doubtless published in 1701, gave the lines of “equal 
magnetic variation” chiefly over the Atlantic Ocean, based upon Halley’s observa¬ 
tions, made between 1698 and 1700 011 the ship Paramour Pink, the expenses of the 
expedition having been borne by the English Government, this fruitful expedition 
representing the first systematic effort made at a magnetic survey of the globe. In no 
case were the lines on this chart drawn over land areas.® 

The “World Chart,” frequently referred to under the title of “Tabula Nautica,” 
published later than the preceding one (probably in 1702), besides containing the 
“lines of equal variation ” for the Atlantic Ocean, also gave them for the Indian Ocean 
and the extreme western part of the Pacific Ocean. (See Fig. 18.) In a few instances 
the lines were drawn across the continents. This was reproduced by Airy in the 
Greenwich Observations for 1869, and again by Hellmann® in 1895. 

Revisions of Halley’s chart, made necessary by the progressive change in these lines 
of equal magnetic declination with the lapse of time, were made after Halley’s death 
by Messrs. Mountaine and Dodson in 1744 and 1756. The most complete collection of 
early charts of the lines of equal magnetic declination (isogonic charts) and of equal 
magnetic dip (isoclinic lines) will be found in Hansteen’s Atlas, belonging to his 
famous work “ Magnetismus der Erde,” Christiania, 1819, and in Hellmann’s facsimile 
reprints, * * * 6 to which latter work the reader is referred for a detailed historical account. 

The following series of isogonic charts from 1600 to 1858 (Figs. 17-20) have been 
reproduced on a reduced scale from Neumayer’s excellent Atlas des Erdmagnetismus, 
published by Justus Perthes, Gotha, 1891, those of 1600 and 1800 being due to Hansteen, 
and published in 1819, that of 1700 to Halley, and tlieone of 1858 to the British Admiralty. 
Van Bemmelen has recently constructed isogonic charts for 1500 (see Fig. 4), 1550, 1600, 
1650, and 1700, based on an exhaustive collection of early declination values/ A care¬ 
ful scrutiny of them is earnestly recommended to the reader. Let him pick out, for 

« A copy of this chart, whose existence had escaped attention, was found by the writer in 1895 

in the British Museum, and reproduced by him with commentary notes in the journal “Terrestrial 

Magnetism,” Vol. I, No. 1, 1896. 

& “Die iiltesten Karten der Isogonen, Isoklinen, Isodynamen,” Berlin, A. Asher & Co., 1895. (At 
the time of this publication Hellmann was not aware of the “Atlantic Chart.” and so erroneously 
believed that the “World Chart” was the original Halley Chart of 1701.) 

c“ Die Abweichung der Magnet Nadel,” Batavia, 1899. 









































































































































































































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PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


63 

example, an agonic line (line of no magnetic declination) and follow its various trans¬ 
formations from period to period. Or let him compare the chart of 1600 with that of 
I 9°5» given later, and notice what a complete reversal there has been in the distribution 
of the Earth’s magnetism, as represented by the lines of equal magnetic declination. 
Thus in 1600 the declination over the western and southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean 
and over western Europe and western Africa was east , whereas to-day, over the same 
portions of the Earth, the declination is west. 

The chart (Fig. 21) of 1905 was reproduced from the British Admiralty Manual of 
Deviations of the Compass, 1901. The isoclinic chart, giving the lines of equal mag¬ 
netic dip for 1905 (Fig. 22), has been taken from the same source. 

In looking over the series of isogonic charts,, two main lines of zero or no magnetic 
declination (agonic lines) intersecting the equator, a western one and an eastern one, 
can be recognized. If the longitudes of the intersections were determined from time to 
time and represented graphically, the ordinate being the longitude and the abscissa the 
corresponding year, it would be seen that for nearly three hundred } T ears there has been 
a progressive and almost uniform motion of these two agonic lines to the westward, the 
western agonic at an average annual rate of nearly 14 minutes in longitude and the 
eastern agonic at an 'average annual rate of about 8 minutes in longitude. Were 
the western agonic to make a complete revolution of the Earth at the rate given, it 
would take it nearly one thousand six hundred years, whereas the eastern agonic would 
require about two thousand six* hundred years. These results show how fruitless it is 
to endeavor to determine the secular change period from the supposed motion of the 
agonic lines around the Earth. The result reached will depend not only upon the 
agonic selected, but also upon the parallel of latitude along which the sliding around 
the Earth is supposed to take place.® 

Magnetic Meridians. 

The lines of equal magnetic declination, while representing magnetic declination 
data in a convenient and practical form, do not actually exist in nature; they are 
merely an artificial set of lines devised to serve a useful purpose, which they admirably 
fulfill. The so-called “magnetic meridians,’’ with which the isogonic lines are often 
confounded, give a better representation of the actual magnetic condition of the Earth. 
They are the lines along which one would travel were he to set out at any place on 
the Earth and always follow the direction of the compass needle, and hence they 
exhibit at every point the actual direction of the compass needle, not by numbers, but 
by angles. The magnetic declination at any point will be the angle between the 
magnetic and the true meridian passing through the point. 

Fig. 23 gives the magnetic meridians for 1836 as drawn by Captain Duperrey. It 
will be noticed that they all pass through two points—one in the Northern Hemisphere, 
the North Magnetic Pole, and the other in the Southern Hemisphere, the South Mag¬ 
netic Pole. The lines cutting across the magnetic meridians at right angles, which in 
the present instance are the lines of equal “potential,” Duperrey termed the “magnetic 


a In this way Ford Kelvin deduced his much-quoted period of nine hundred and sixty years. 



6 4 


PRINCIPAL/ FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM 


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FIG. 21.—LINES OF EQUAL MAGNETIC DECLINATION FOR 1905 (BRITISH ADMIRALTY). 
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FIG. 22.—LINES OF EQUAL MAGNETIC DIP FOR 1905 (BRITISH ADMIRALTY). 































































































































































































































































































PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 65 

parallels.” It is more usual, however, to call the lines of equal dip the “magnetic 
parallels. ’ ’ 

The isogonic lines, on the other hand, pass through four points—two in each hemi¬ 
sphere, the magnetic pole and the geographical pole. (See Fig. 24, which gives these 
lines for 1885, as reproduced from Neumayer’s “Atlas.”) In other words, at both 
points in each hemisphere it is possible to have all values of the magnetic declination; 
at the magnetic pole because there all magnetic meridians converge, and at the geo¬ 
graphical pole because there all true meridians meet, and since the magnetic declination 
is the angle between the magnetic meridian and the true meridian, it is therefore possi¬ 
ble to have every value of the magnetic declination at each of the two points. There 
is this distinction between them, however: At the magnetic pole the compass has no 
definite direction, all the force acting at this point being vertically downward, so that 
there is no force in the horizontal plane pulling the compass into any fixed direction; 
the true north and south direction is, however, a fixed one. At the geographical pole, 
however, the true direction is anything you please, while the compass direction is a 
perfectly definite one. 


MAGNETIC SURVEYS. 

General Remarks. 

The present time is witnessing a remarkable revival of interest in magnetic work. 
Magnetic surveys are either already under way or contemplated for the near future in 
nearly every civilized country. From the Antarctic expeditions valuable results may 
be expected in a region almost destitute of data, and where in fact nothing has been 
obtained since the observations of Ross and Crozier in the ships Erebus and Terror and 
of Moore and Clerk in the Pagoda , sixty years ago. 

Unfortunately, however, in the regions of the Earth where information regarding 
the magnetic needle is of the highest practical importance to the seaman in these days, 
when every effort is bent to increase the speed of a vessel by a knot over the great ocean 
basins continually traversed—the Atlantic, the Pacific, etc.—there almost no magnetic 
data are at present being obtained. But very little data regarding the magnetic declina- 
tionof the needle, to say nothing of the dip and intensity, have been obtained in the ocean 
areas since the advent of iron ships, except from- occasional expeditions. The present 
lines of equal magnetic declination, or, as the mariner terms them, “lines of equal mag¬ 
netic variation,” over these waters depend almost entirely upon results acquired in 
wooden ships 50 to 100 years and more ago. It is therefore impossible to state just how 
accurate they may be. When it is remembered that in tim£s of fog and darkness, with 
no celestial object visible, sole reliance must be placed on the log, compass, and the 
“variation ” charts, the importance of a systematic magnetic survey of ocean areas needs 
no further argument. Fortunately all evidence goes to show that over the deep waters 
of the ocean most frequently traversed, the Atlantic, the present lines of equal magnetic 
declination are doubtless correct within i°. In shallow waters, however, and near 
coast lines, where danger of shipwreck is most imminent, greater errors in the lines can 
be confidently expected. Respecting the Pacific Ocean, it is impossible to form an 
accurate opinion as to the correctness of the mariner’s “variation charts.” Unfortu- 


66 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


nately, almost the universal practice employed by seamen in these waters is to deduce 
the compass deviation, or compass correction, due to the ship’s own magnetism, entirely 
with the-aid of the “variation charts;” and rarely do they control their table of devia¬ 
tion corrections by ‘ ‘ swinging ship. ’ ’ The difference between the observed ‘ ‘ variation 
of the compass” on board ship and that scaled from the variation charts, is ascribed 
wholly to the local magnetism of the ship, and called the “deviation of the compass” on 
the course on which the “variation” was observed. This difference, however, is due 
to three causes: (i) Ship’s own magnetism; (2) error in variation charts; (3) error in 
mariner’s observation. If mariners in the Pacific Ocean would likewise swing ship, 
when opportunity offered, and thus determine the deviations of the compass on various 
courses independently of the charts, valuable data would be furnished those whose duty 
it is to construct ‘ ‘ variation charts. ’ ’ 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey is making arrangements to fit out its vessels with 
the necessary instruments for determining the magnetic elements at sea. 

Besides the need of a systematic magnetic survey of ocean areas, there are vast areas 
of the Earth, some under the control of civilized nations, which have not yet been 
magnetically explored. 

The complete solution of some of the vexed problems of the Earth’s magnetism of 
international interest, can not be accomplished until some of the gaps in knowledge as 
above pointed out have been filled. 

The necessity of obtaining facts for keeping “variation charts” up to date, i. e., 
correcting them for secular change, has already been made apparent in the previous 
section on ‘ ‘ Magnetic charts. ’ ’ It has been shown that it does not take many years to 
make appreciable changes. Fig. 25, due to Neumayer, gives the amount of annual 
change of the magnetic declination for various parts of the Earth. It will be seen that 
along the tracks usually followed by steamers plying between New York and England, 
the change may be as much as 6 minutes a year—that is, i° in 10 years—while over 
other ocean areas, e. g., South Atlantic, a change of i° may be expected in about 6 % 
years." Over the greater part of the Pacific Ocean, the change, at present (it may not 
always be so), is on the average about 2 minutes per year, or i° in 30 years. For the 
United States, as will be seen by turning to the Chart, the change is from o' to 5', the 
average being about 3', or 1 0 in 20 years. 

a An error of 1° in a course a mile long amounts to an error in distance of 92.2 feet. Supposing 
a speed of 20 knots an hour, a vessel persisting on a course erroneous by i° would be out at the end 
of the day’s run about 9.6 miles, or 8.4 knots—nearly one half hour in time. Thus, when every 
nerve is being strained to cut down the time of crossing the ocean by an hour or so, the need of being 
able to hold a vessel true to her course is apparent. 

When the mariner is obliged to rely entirely upon the compass and the log, the uncertainty in 
fixing the ship’s position at the end of a day’s run is due to the error in distance traversed and 
to the error resulting from imperfect knowledge of the true bearing of the course followed. If, 
therefore, it were possible to add another factor for fixing the ship’s position, e. g., if sufficiently 
accurate dip observations were possible on board ship, they might help materially, with the aid of 
the isoclinic charts, to fix the position. 

In times of clear weather, when celestial objects are visible, there would of course be no need of 
a “magnetic” method for determining the ship’s position, but when no astronomical method can be 
employed then any additional information to that supplied by the compass and the log is greatly to 
be desired. 








FIG. 25.—MEAN SECULAR CHANGE OF THE MAGNETIC DECLINATION FOR THE PERIOD 1890-1900, BY G. NEUMAYER. 

[The plus sign denotes that the prevailing declination, whether it be west or east, is increasing by the amount given in minutes, whereas the minus sign means that it is decreasing.] 






















































































































































































































































PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


67 


Historical Summary/ 

The first complete magnetic survey in which the three magnetic elements—decli¬ 
nation, dip, and intensity—were determined, and which was executed as a national 
piece of work and was coextensive with the limits of the country surveyed, was that of 
the British Islands, corresponding to January 1, 1837. This survey was undertaken in 
1836 at the request of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and was 
completed in 1838. The example set by Great Britain was speedily followed by the 
execution of similar surveys in various portions of the globe—in Austria, Bavaria, 
Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Canada, etc. At the present time nearly every 
civilized country has been surveyed magnetically to a greater or less extent. 

But such surveys must be repeated after the lapse of a number of years on account 
of the slow, yet appreciable, change forever going on in the Earth’s magnetic state, 
which change, as one of the most noted physicists has truly said, is a warning 
‘ ‘ that we must not suppose that the inner history of our planet is ended. ’ ’ Thus 
after the lapse of twenty years Great Britain—again at the instance of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science h —repeated its original magnetic survey/ 
The observations were taken between 1857-1862. In the Philosophical Transactions 
of the Royal Society for 1870 will be found a full account of this survey and likewise 
of the earlier one. In this paper Sir Edward Sabine combined the observations of the 
two surveys and drew the isomagnetic lines for the mean period of 1842-1845. 
Recently Great Britain has completed a third magnetic survey, far more elaborate than 
any of the preceding surveys. This survey, one of the most carefully executed up to 
date, was conducted b)^ two most eminent physicists, Professors Rucker and Thorpe/ 
It is a most fruitful piece of work. Observations of the three elements were made at 
first by the two distinguished professors themselves between the years 1884-1888 at 
205 places/ The government grant committee of the Royal Society then made a 
liberal grant so that the survey might be carried out on a larger scale than hitherto 
attempted. Two assistant observers were then employed, and with their aid, in the 
four years 1889-1892, the grand total of the number of stations was brought up to 882, 
making on the average 1 station to every 139 square miles of land area/ The isomag¬ 
netic lines corresponding to the epoch 1886-1890, and based on the 205 observations 
made between the years 1884-1888, were drawn, and likewise those as based on the 677 
stations observed in 1889-1892, were constructed for the epoch 1891, and finally the 

a Quoted largely from the writer’s First Report on Magnetic Work in Maryland. 

b Doubtless no national organization has done so much for the advancement of the subject of 
terrestrial magnetism as this most distinguished body of scientific men. Money grants have been 
freely made; committees on terrestrial magnetism composed of the most eminent physicists have been 
formed from time to time, and cooperation has been extended and encouragement given to magnetic 
enterprises in many ways. 

c Report on the Repetition of the Magnetic Survey of England, by Maj. Gen. Edward Sabine. 
Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science for 1861. 

dDr. Thorpe has made a number of determinations of the magnetic elements in the United 
States. 

«The results were published in the Phil. Trans, of the R. S., 1890, A, p. 53, the memoir consti¬ 
tuting the Bakerian lecture of that year. 

/The results of this last work have just been published, Phil. Trans. R. S., vol. 188, A, 1896. 



68 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


lines as resulting from all the stations were obtained. A splendid opportunity was thus 
afforded for testing the accuracy with which the positions of the isomagnetic lines, e. g., 
the lines of equal magnetic declination or variation, can be inferred from observations 
in greater or less number. For further details the reader is referred to Professor 
Riicker’s interesting account" published in Terrestrial Magnetism for July, 1896. 

Professor Rucker’s * * * * * 6 results regarding the relation of magnetic disturbances and 
geological formations are of such universal interest that they are quoted in toto: 

“ It has long been known that just as the secular variation of the magnet is accompanied by minor 
diurnal changes, so the large alterations in the direction of the compass and dipping needle, which 
are observed when we move from place to place on the surface of the earth, are affected by irregular¬ 
ities which are due to purely local causes. Thus the declination is greater in Ireland than in England; 
but the increase is not uniform as we pass from one country to the other. In fact in some districts 
an abnormally large increase is followed by a decrease. 

“ These curious inequalities must be due to local disturbing forces, and the large number of obser¬ 
vations which have been made in this country [Great Britain] have enabled us to determine with 
more than usual accuracy the magnitude and direction which the magnetic forces would assume if 
they were undisturbed by any local cause, and from the difference between things as they then would 
be and things as they actually are, we can calculate the magnitude and direction of the disturbing 
forces themselves. When these are represented on a map, it is found that there are large districts of 
the country in which the disturbing horizontal forces act in the same direction; in one region the 
north pole of the needle will be deflected to the east, in another to the west, and, as we pass from 
one of these districts to the other, we always find that at the boundary the downward vertical force 
on the north pole of the needle reaches a maximum value. We are thus able to draw upon the map 
lines toward which the north pole of the needle is attracted. It is found that the exact position of 
these can be determined with considerable accuracy, and that the lines can be traced without any 
possible doubt through distances amounting, in some instances, to a couple of hundred miles. The 
key to this curious fact is probably furnished by observations in the neighborhood of great masses of 
basalt or other magnetic rocks. If these were magnetized by the induction of the earth’s magnetic 
field, the upper portions of them would, in this hemisphere, attract the north pole of the needle; 
and it is found that where large masses of basalt exist, as in Antrim, in the Scotch coal fields, in 
North Wales, and elsewhere, the north pole of the needle is, as a matter of fact, attracted toward them 
from distances which may amount to 50 miles. The thickness of the sheets of basalt is in most cases 
too small to furnish a complete explanation of the observed facts, but it is quite possible that these 
surface layers of magnetic matter are merely indications of underground protuberances of similar 
rocks from which the surface sheets have been extruded. At all events, there is no possible doubt of 
the fact that where large masses of basalt occur, the north pole of the needle tends to move toward 
them. 

“There are other regions where the attractions are manifest, but where, nevertheless, no magnetic 
rocks occur upon the surface; but it is most probable that the cause is the same, and that it is due to 
the mere accident of denudation that in one case we can, and in the other we can not, point to the 
magnetic rocks to which the anomalous behavior of the compass is due. If this be so, it is certainly 
interesting that magnetic obsemations should enable us to penetrate to depths which the geologist can 
not otherwise reach , and that the lines which we draw upon the surface of the map, as those to which 
the north pole is attracted, may, in fact, roughly represent the ridge lines of concealed masses of mag¬ 
netic rocks, which are the foundations upon which the deposits studied by the geologist have been laid. 

« A. W. Rucker: A Summary of the Results of the Recent Magnetic Survey of Great Britain and 
Ireland conducted by Professors Rucker and Thorpe: 

I. On the Accuracy of the Delineation of the Terrestrial Isomagnetic Lines. 

II. On the Accuracy of the Determination of the Local Disturbing Magnetic Forces. 

III. On the Relation between the Magnetic and the Geological Constitution of Great Britain and 

Ireland. 

& Extracted from Terrestrial Magnetism, Vol. Ill, pp. 42-41. 



PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


69 

“ There is some ground for thinking that if these great underground wrinkles exist, they have 
affected the rocks which are superposed upon them, especially those which are of a comparatively 
early date. As a general rule, if older rocks appear in the midst of newer ones, the pole of the 
magnet will be attracted toward the protruding mass; but this rule holds good only of the rocks of 
Carboniferous or Pre-Carboniferous age, and does not apply to later deposits. As a striking example, I 
may state that the Pennine Range—which is sometimes called the “backbone of England”—is a 
mass of millstone grit rising amid younger rocks. Down this a well-marked magnetic ridge line 
runs. Similarly, in the neighborhood of Birmiugham, the Dudley and Nuneaton coal fields are sur¬ 
rounded by more modern deposits. A curious horseshoe-shaped ridge line connects these two, and 
then runs south to Reading, which is, magnetically speaking, one of the most important towns in the 
Kingdom. East and west from Dover to Milford Haven, and then across the English Channel to 
Wexford, runs a ridge of the older rocks, called by geologists the Paleozoic ridge, concealed in many 
places by newer deposits. Hollowed out in this are the South Wales and Forest of Dean coal fields, 
and in another hollow within it lies the coal which has recently been discovered at Dover. Closely 
following this protruding mass of the older rocks is a magnetic ridge line which passes through 
Reading, and thus we have a magnetic connection between the anticlinals of Warwickshire and the 
Paleozoic ridge. From the neighborhood of Reading also another magnetic ridge line runs south¬ 
ward, entering the channel near Chichester. M. Moureaux, who, with most untiring energy, has for 
many years been investigating, single handed, the magnetic constitution of France, has discovered 
the continuation of this line on the French coast near Dieppe, and has traced it through the north of 
France to some 50 miles south of Paris. The energy which is now being displayed by magnetic sur¬ 
veyors in many countries will, no doubt before long, prove that the network of these magnetic ridge 
lines is universal, and the relations between them and the geological conformation of the countries 
in which they lie will be so studied that our inductions will be based upon an adequate knowledge 
of facts.” 

To give an intelligent and fair account of all work done in recent years in this 
special field of human activity would require far more space and time than is available. 
On the European continent, in nearly every country, elaborate magnetic surveys are either 
at present in progress or have just been finished or are in contemplation. One of the 
most detailed in recent years is that of Holland, by Dr. Van Rijckevorsel, for the epoch 
1891.0, embracing 278 stations over an area about equal to that of Maryland, or averag¬ 
ing about one station to every 40 square miles. This survey of Holland is especially 
interesting from the fact that though it was made over an area superficially destitute of 
striking geological features, it nevertheless revealed marked disturbances. The author 
sums up his conclusions thus: “Little even as we know about the geology of the 
Netherlands, the magnetic maps must bring every one to the conviction that in some 
cases, in many perhaps, there must be a direct relation between geolog3 T and terrestrial 
magnetism, and that many of the magnetic features must be in some way determined by 
the geological structure of the underground. What these geological features might be 
we are at present unable to tell. What kinds of rock may be hidden at a depth of 300 
meters or more under the peat bogs and heaths of the Netherlands, and the clay, sand, 
and pebbles immediately underlying these, we do not know—rocks which, although 
under ground, are yet perhaps in some places so near the surface as to be an effective 
barrier against the inroads of the sea, which has fair play in other districts.” 

So, likewise, important and interesting results were obtained by Professor Liznar, 
who conducted the magnetic survey of Austria. The magnetic survey of most of the 
German States (for a second time, and on a more elaborate scale than during Lamont’s 
time) is now in progress. The Russian Government has been planning a magnetic 
survey of its extensive domains, and it is hoped that the funds will soon be forthcoming. 


70 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Magnetic surveys of India and of Egypt are being undertaken under the auspices of 
the English Government. Instances could be multiplied in which good and important 
work has been accomplished by magnetic surveys, as, for example, in France, Italy, 
Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, etc. 

Extremely interesting investigations in the greatly disturbed areas in Russia 
between Kursk and Odessa have been made by Leyst, Moureaux, and Passalskij.® 

Enough has been given, however, to show that by undertaking similar work the 
United States is simply keeping in touch with a general movement that is manifesting 
itself most actively in the civilized world to-day. It is recognized that in the eager and 
impatient endeavor to unravel the mysteries of the celestial regions the terrestrial 
mysteries, manifesting themselves every moment, have been woefully neglected. The 
science of our Earth is still in its infancy, and the astronomer has been made painfully 
aware of the fact that more attention must be given to the study of the physical history 
of the planet. There is every evidence that a reaction in scientific thought in this 
regard has set in that is bound to grow, and it is most desirable that the United States 
should keep in line with this onward movement. 

Magnetic Survey of the United States. 

In concluding, brief reference to the history of terrestrial magnetism in the United 
States is made, so that one may form some opinion as to the place to be ascribed to this 
country in the development of magnetic surveys. 

The earliest attempt at a detailed State magnetic survey appears to have been made 
by Prof. Alexander Dallas Bache in 1840-1843, just before he was called to the Superin¬ 
tendency of the Coast Survey. He called his survey a ‘ ‘ Magnetic survey of Pennsyl¬ 
vania and parts of adjacent States.” Observations were made at 22 points within 
Pennsylvania; they did not in every case embrace the three elements. Professor Bache 
made these observations during his summer vacations from 1840-1843 and at private 
expense. 

When Bache became Superintendent of the Coast Survey magnetic work was incor¬ 
porated in the work of the Survey. Since then magnetic observations have been made 
In every State of the Union by the Coast Survey, and the drawing of isomagnetic maps 
and the furnishing of the data for allowance for the secular change have become regular 
authorized functions of the Survey. The extension of the observations in such manner 
as would fulfill the modern requirements of a magnetic survey could not be undertaken 
until 1899, when the United States Congress, acting upon the recommendation of Dr. 
Henry S. Pritchett, then Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, largely 
increased the appropriation for magnetic observations over what it had been before 
.that date. 

An officer of the Survey was placed in immediate charge of the details of the work 
in the field as Inspector of Magnetic Work, a division of Terrestrial Magnetism was 
created in the Office of the Survey, and operations were extended to the limit fixed by 
the amount of money available. 

Magnetic observations, more or less complete, and magnetic tours, more or less 
extensive, had been made previous to Bache’s work, referred to above, e. g., by Long 


a See Terrestrial Magnetism, Vol. IV, p. 235, and Vol. VII, No. 2. 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


71 


(1819), Nicollet (1832-36), Locke (1838-43) and Loomis (1838-41). The last made 
the first general collection of magnetic observations for this country and has the honor 
of having drawn the first magnetic maps. To be sure, these maps, covering the eastern 
part of the United States, owing to the scantiness of the material, were only rough 
approximations; nevertheless, when, sixteen years later, a more complete map was 
made by the Coast Survey, Professor Bache declared that between his own map and 
that of Loomis, when proper allowance was made for the secular change, the ‘ ‘ agree¬ 
ment was remarkable.” This epoch of about 1840 is remarkable for the number of 
zealous and devoted students of terrestrial magnetism among the famous scientists in 
the United States. It is hoped that before long some of the physicists of this country 
can again be counted in the list of eminent magneticians. 

From 1878-1883 Prof. Francis E. Nipher, professor of physics at Washington 
University, St. Louis, undertook a detailed magnetic survey of Missouri. Professor 
Nipher must be duly credited with the spirit and enterprise he exhibited in the inaug¬ 
uration of this survey. He was dependent entirely upon private aid for the defraying 
of the expenses of the work. The instruments were loaned by the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey. Professor Nipher has published thus far five reports of this work®. He has, 
however, not been able to complete the survey, and so no final report and no maps have 
been published. He had observed, with the aid of assistants, at 149 stations, or on the 
average at one station to 438 square miles. 

At the same time some preliminary observations appear to have been made by 
Prof. Gustav Hinrichs, in Iowa, but the survey does not seem to have progressed far 
beyond a beginning. 

Next comes the declination survey carried out—this time under State auspices— 
under the direction of Prof. George H. Cook, then State geologist of New Jersey, now 
deceased. The period of the survey was 1887-1890, all but a few of the observations 
to the extent of 158 stations having been made within this period. There was thus 
on the average one declination station to about 52 square miles. The observations 
were not made with special magnetic instruments, but good surveying transits were 
used. The observers appear to have executed the work as carefully as the methods 
and instruments would permit. 

It was a commendable piece of work, as far as it went, but it was not complete. 
In order to derive the full benefit from magnetic surveys, it is absolutely essential to 
determine not declination alone, but also dip and intensity. Experience has repeatedly 
shown that with proper instruments a skilled observer can determine the three mag¬ 
netic elements at practically the same cost in money and time as when declination results 
alone are determined. The principal expense and labor occurs in getting to a station 
and determining the true meridian. After this, the magnetic work, with proper 
instruments and modem methods, can be expeditiously and economically performed. 

In 1896 the State Geologist of Maryland, Prof. W. B. Clark, inaugurated a mag¬ 
netic survey of Maryland, and intrusted it to the writer. The work was done princi¬ 
pally in the summer months of 1896 and 1897 an d in the spring of 1899, the expense 
being borne by the State of-Maryland, except in 1899, when the expenses were divided 
between the State and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. In 1900 all of the expenses 


^Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, 1878-1886. 




7 2 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THF EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


were borne by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the instruments used throughout 
the work (1896-1900) were loaned by this Survey. This work has resulted in giving 
Maryland the most detailed magnetic survey of any State, there being on the average 
one station to about 100 square miles. Holland is the only country which excels 
Maryland in this respect, having, on the average, one station to every 45 square miles. 
The results have been published in two Reports by the Maryland Geological Survey. 
A number of interesting facts have been revealed, especially in the locally disturbed 
areas; it has been amply demonstrated that if the geologist desires to invoke the aid 
of magnetism in the solution of some of the vexed problems with reference to subter¬ 
ranean formations at depths impenetrable by ordinary means, he must use approved 
magnetic methods, and not be content with instruments which admit of simply 
“ordinary” accuracy. 

A magnetic survey of North Carolina was made between 1898 and 1899, by J. B. 
Baylor, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, undei the joint auspices of the Coast and 
Geodetic Survey and the North Carolina Geological Survey (Prof. J. A. Holmes, 
State Geologist). The “General Report” of this work, prepared by Messrs. Baylor 
and Hazard, wall be found in Appendix 9, Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 
1898-99. (See also Bulletin No. 4.1.) 


As stated above, since 1899 the Coast and Geodetic Survey has been enabled to 
undertake systematically a magnetic survey of the territory under the jurisdiction of 
the United States.® The general plan on which the magnetic survey is being conducted 
has been published in Appendix 10, Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1898-99. 

It is the intention to make first a general survey with stations about 25-30 miles 
distant and to occupy between 400-500 stations a year. After the general survey has 
been completed additional stations will be placed where most needed, as, for example, 
in the locally disturbed areas revealed by the general survey. Also, besides the con¬ 
tinuous observations at the magnetic observatory stations, the magnetic elements will 
be redetermined at a number of well-chosen and uniformly distributed places from 
time to time, in order to determine the amount of secular change, and thus make it 
possible to keep the magnetic charts up to date. For fuller information refer to the 
Appendix cited. 


«The areas of the countries at present belonging to or under the jurisdiction of the United States 
are, approximately, as follows: 


Square miles. 


United States. 3 026 800 

Alaska. 590 900 

Philippine Islands. 120 400 

Hawaiian Islands .. 6 400 

Porto Rico. 3 400 

Guam Island, Tutuila Island, and Midway Islands. 300 

Panama Canal Zone.. 470 


Total... 3 748 670 

The area controlled by the United States is equal to that of Europe, or about one-fifteenth of the 
entire land area of the globe. 












PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


73 


THE EARTH’S MAGNETIC POLES AND MAGNETIC MOMENT. 

Magnetic Poles. 

The definition for the magnetic poles of the Earth commonly accepted, is that they 
are the points on the Earth’s surface where the dipping needle stands precisely vertical, 
i. e., where the dip is 90°, at the north magnetic pole, the north end of the dipping 
needle pointing vertically downwards, and at the south magnetic pole, the south end 
of the same needle pointing vertically downwards. Excluding ‘ ‘ local magnetic poles, ” a 
caused by extraordinary local deposits of attracting masses, there are but two such 
points, one in the Northern Hemisphere and the other in the Southern Hemisphere; 
their approximate positions will be presently given, and it will be seen that they are 
not diametrically opposite each other. At these points, as all of the Earth’s magnetic 
force acts vertically downwards, there is no horizontal component to act on the com¬ 
pass needle and hold it in any fixed direction, hence the compass needle at the mag¬ 
netic poles, except for extraneous disturbing influences, remains in any position in 
which it may be placed. 

The points of greatest intensity of the total magnetic force, because of the irregu¬ 
lar way in which the Earth is magnetized, are not coincident with the magnetic poles 
as above defined; barring out local manifestations there will be found to be four such 
points, two in each hemisphere, termed the “foci of greatest magnetic intensity.’’ 
The stronger of the two intensity foci in the Northern Hemisphere, was, according to 
Lefroy’s observations in 1843-44, i n latitude 52 0 io' north and in longitude 99 0 59' 
west of Greenwich, hence somewhat south of Hudsons Bay and considerably south of 
the north magnetic pole. 

It can not too clearly be pointed out that the points on the Earth’s surface termed 
“magnetic poles,’’ are by no means to be compared to the poles of a bar magnet. If 
they were similar in their action, then, manifestly, the weight of iron particles ought to 
increase enormously with approach to the magnetic poles. This, however, is known 
not to be the case. The increase in the weight of iron as the pole is approached, on 
account of the increase of the vertical force of the Earth’s magnetism, would only be 
about one-eighth of that due to the well-known increase of gravitational force ( 2 ^ D ) 
because of the flattening of the Earth at its rotation poles. The Earth is a spherical 
magnet, and not at all to be likened to a bar magnet. A bar magnet at the center of 
the Earth which would produce the magnetic facts observed on our globe would have its 
magnetic poles practically coincident with each other. Two well-known investigators, 
Kraft and Biot, found that the nearer to each other they assumed the poles of a fictitious 
bar magnet placed at the center of the Earth to be, the closer the correspondence 
between their computed results on this hypothesis and the observed facts; so that the 
‘ ‘ equivalent magnetic poles of a spherical magnet ’ ’ are practically the same distance 
from all points on the Earth’s surface, and this accounts for the very slight increase in 
the weight of iron which might be expected if it were carried from the “magnetic 
equator ’ ’ to the ‘ ‘ magnetic pole. ’ ’ 

a A “local magnetic pole ” was found by Messrs. Leyst and Moureaux in Russia, between Kursk 
and Odessa; the writer in the fall of 1900 found one near Juneau, Alaska, viz,* on Douglass Island, 
opposite Sheep Creek, There are a number of such “local” poles. 





74 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Hence there are no points on or near the Earth's surface equivalent in their action to 
the poles of a bar magnet; the points which are termed the “ magnetic poles of the Earth ” 
are simply the points of intersection of the direction of vertical dip with the Earth's surface. 

If the Earth were uniformly magnetized throughout instead of being heterogene¬ 
ously magnetized, the line joining the “ equivalent magnetic poles,” if prolonged, would 
pass through the points on the Earth’s surface where the dip is equal to 90°, and this 
line would be the ‘ ‘ magnetic axis ’ ’ of the Earth. Only about seven-tenths of the total 
force of the Earth’s magnetism can be referred to a homogeneous magnetization, the 
remainder being due to irregular magnetizations. Hence we must expect neither that 
the points of vertical dip he diametrically opposite to each other nor that the magnetic 
axis of the uniform magnetization should coincide with the straight line connecting 
them. The said magnetic axis passes through the Earth’s'center and connects the points 
on the surface, lying respectively in latitude 78°.3 north, longitude 67°.3 west, and in 
latitude 78°.3 south, longitude east, while the straight line connecting the 

magnetic poles does not pass through the center of the Earth but off to one side. 

In consequence of the heterogeneous magnetization of the Earth a magnetic 
meridian line is not a straight line leading to the magnetic poles, but a very devious line 
indeed. And thus a great circle passed through the direction pointed out by a compass 
needle at any given place will not pass through the magnetic poles, and the opposite 
intersections of two of such circles will not coincide with the magnetic poles. 

It is desirable to advert to one more matter before proceeding to give the posi¬ 
tion of the ‘‘magnetic poles.” Gauss defined these points as the places of minimum 
and of maximum potential, the former being the north magnetic pole. The points so 
defined would coincide with those of vertical dip, if no part of the Earth’s magnetism 
be due to electric currents which pass from the air into the earth and vice versa. It 
would seem as though we have some indication that a small part (about 2 or 3 per cent) 
of the Earth’s magnetic force is to be ascribed to such currents. 

Capt. James Clark Ross, in June, 1831, found that the dip of the needle at a place 
whose latitude was 70° of 17" north and whose longitude was 96° 45' 48" west of 
Greenwich was 89° 59'.5. The compass needle had lost its directive force at this 
point entirely; when suspended by a fiber it would remain in any position in which it 
had been placed. This point, reached for the first time by Ross and designated the 
‘‘North Magnetic Pole,” is situated on Boothia Felix—named in honor of Felix Booth, 
who had fitted out the expedition. Owing to the method of determination which Ross 
had to employ and the inaccuracy of his instruments, the position found for the 
magnetic pole must be regarded as only approximate. To fix the point precisely would 
require the magnetic survey of a considerable area, and hence the expenditure of more 
time than Ross could afford. 

A Norwegian, Mr. Roald Amundsen, is at present planning a north magnetic pole 
expedition, which is to set out in the spring of 1903, and is to be equipped for a stay of 
four years in the region of the magnetic pole. His magnetic instruments are being 
constructed especially for this expedition under the able superintendence of Professor 
Neumayer, director of the German Naval Observatory at Hamburg, and Dr. Chree, 
superintendent of Kew Observatory, England. 



PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 75 

The change in the magnetic inclination—the element principally involved in the 
location of the magnetic pole—along a magnetic meridian is in this region about o'.8 
to 2' per kilometer, or 1' to 3' per mile. It is furthermore probable that the magnetic 
pole is at present moving, because of the secular change in the Barth’s magnetism in a 
northwesterly direction at the rate of about 8-13 kilometers, or 5-8 miles, per year. 

It would accordingly seem that with modern instrumental means and methods the 


Fig. 26.—Map of region around North Magnetic Pole (Schott, 1890). 

location of the magnetic pole, defined as the focus of vertical dip, and its secular motion, 
ought to be determinable with sufficient accuracy within the period of the expedition. 

Observations of the diurnal variation of the magnetic elements, if possible, of mag¬ 
netic perturbations, polar lights, and atmospheric electricity will be extremely interest¬ 
ing and valuable in this region. 

The south magnetic pole has not as yet been reached. From Ross’s observations, 
made in the antarctic regions while in command of the ship Erebus , Duperrey has deduced 
the position of 75 0 south and 138° east of Greenwich. The nearest approach to the 












;6 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


south magnetic pole was made by Ross, February 16, 1841, in latitude 76° 20' south 
and longitude 165° 32' east, the dip at this place being 88° 35'. Unsurmountable phys¬ 
ical difficulties prevented his getting any nearer. 

Duperrey determined the position of the magnetic poles with the aid of his charts 
of the magnetic meridians for 1836. (See Fig. 23.) These meridians do not quite meet 
in the same point because of the irregularity in the Earth’s magnetization, as already 
pointed out; however, the “successive intersection of each pair of contiguous meridians 
form a closed curve, the central points of which may be denominated magnetic poles.’’ 
The poles so defined were found to be in 70° north, 98° west, and 75 0 south and 138° 
east. Gauss, in 1838, calculated that the north magnetic pole would be in 73 0 35' 
north and 93 0 39' west, and the south magnetic pole in 72 0 35' south and 152 0 30' 
east. Commander Borchgrevink, who has penetrated the farthest south thus far, claims 
that the position of the south magnetic pole, computed (he did not reach the pole) from 
his magnetic observations, gives a position agreeing more closely with that of Gauss than 
that of Ross. Enough has been given to show, however, that the positions of the mag¬ 
netic poles are not as yet accurately known, and that, furthermore, any position deter¬ 
mined applies only to a particular time. 

Magnetic Moment. 

The following figures are given to furnish some slight conception of the magnetic 
moment of the Earth. Suppose as the unit, a bar magnet of the hardest steel, magnetized 
as strongly as possible, which shall be 14 inches long, 1 inch wide, % inch thick. Such 
a bar magnet would weigh 1 pound. According to Gauss, it would take the following 
number of these bar magnets placed at the Earth’s center to produce the same external 
effect as the Earth: 

8 464 000 000 060 000 000 000. 

Or, if we assume that the Earth’s magnetism is uniformly distributed throughout the 
Earth, then will the magnetic intensity of each cubic yard be equal to six of the 
1-pound steel magnets. 

To put the same fact in still another form. The radius of a soft iron sphere mag¬ 
netized to saturation and concentric with the Earth, which shall have the same magnetic 
effect as that of the Earth, is, according to Overbeck, .243.2 kilometers, or 132.4 
geographical miles, or 151 statute miles, or one-twenty-sixth of the Earth’s radius. 

According to Gray (“Treatise on Magnetism and Electricity,” 1898): “Certain 
long bars of steel cf comparatively high magnetizability have been found by the author 
to take a magnetic moment of about 780 per cubic centimeter (that is, an induction in 
the steel of over 10000, about four and one-half times that taken by Gauss’s bar). 
Consequently, the magnetic moment of a cubic centimeter of such steel is about ten 
times as great as that of a cubic decimeter of the Earth—that is, the mean magnetization 
intensity of the Earth’s substance is about of that of very highly magnetized hard 

steel. ’ ’ 

Fleming says (“Terrestrial Magnetism,” Vol. II, p. 58): 

“Taken as a whole, the Earth is a feeble magnet. If our globe were wholly made 
of steel and magnetized as highly as an ordinary steel-bar magnet, the magnetic forces 
at its surface would be at least a hundred times as great as they are now. That might 
be an advantage or a very great disadvantage. ’ ’ 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


77 


In conclusion, it may be well to point out that the actual distribution and location 
of the magnetic masses or systems of electric currents within the Earth’s crust which 
cause the observed magnetic facts on the globe can not be definitely determined until 
observations in sufficient number and of the required accuracy have been made not only 
on the surface, but also at various altitudes and depths—in the upper regions and in the 
ocean depths. The facts measured and observed simply on the surface can be explained 
in an infinite number of ways. 

All modern investigations would seem to lead to the conclusion that there exists 
both a very deep-seated magnetic field and one confined to a comparatively thin layer, 
and that the Earth’s total magnetism results from systems of electric currents as well as 
from permanent and induced magnetizations. 


hi ; . t;r 

/ jjfl 

\t ' ' 'Jfro r K'fc r |f>i* ' 

. 

oh • ... mi XJix r ... hrt 

* 

* 


DETERMINATION OF THE TRUE MERIDIAN AND THE MAGNETIC 

DECLINATION. 


DETERMINATION OF THE TRUE MERIDIAN. 

Such methods as can be employed with the means usually at a surveyor’s disposal 
are described first, and then the method generally used by the magnetic observers of the 
Coast and Geodetic Survey is given. 

Simple Methods for Determining the True Meridian by Observations on 

Polaris.® 

I.—To DETERMINE the TRUE MERIDIAN BY OBSERVATION ON POLARIS AT ELONGA¬ 
TION WITH A SURVEYOR’S TRANSIT. 

1. Set a stone, or drive a wooden plug, firmly in the ground and upon the top thereof 
make a small distinct mark. 

2. About thirty minutes before the time of the eastern or western elongation of 
Polaris, as given by the tables of elongation, No. VII, set up the transit firmly, with its 
vertical axis exactly over the mark, and carefully level the instrument. 

3. Illuminate the cross hairs by the light from a bull’s-eye lantern or other source, 
the rays being directed into the object end of the telescope by an assistant. Great care 
should be taken to see that the line of collimation describes a truly vertical plane. 

4. Place the vertical hair upon the star, which, if it has not reached its elongation, 
will move to the right for eastern and to the left for western elongation. 

5. As the star moves toward elongation, keep it continually covered by the vertical 
hair by means of the tangent screw of the vernier plate, until a point is reached where 
it will appear to remain on the hair for some time and then leave it in a direction contrary 
to its former motion, thus indicating the point of elongation. 

6. At the instant the star appears to thread the vertical hair, depress the telescope 
to a horizontal position; about 100 yards north of the place of observation drive a wooden 
plug, upon which by a strongly illuminated pencil or other slender object, exactly coin¬ 
cident with the vertical hair, mark a point in the line of sight thus determined; then 
quickly revolve the vernier plate 180 0 , again place the vertical hair upon the star, and, 
as before, mark a point in the new direction; then the middle point between the two 
marks, with the point under the instrument, will define on the ground the trace of the 
vertical plane through Polaris at its eastern or western elongation, as the case may be. 

7. By daylight lay off to the east or west, as the case may require, the proper azi¬ 
muth taken from the Table No. VIII; the instrument will then define the true meridian, 
which may be permanently marked by monuments for future reference. 

a In the preparation of this article use has been made of the United States Land Office Manual of 
Instructions, Washington, 1896. 


79 




8o 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


Table VII .—Local mean ( astronomical ) time of the culminations and elongations of 

Polaris in the year 1915. 

[Computed for latitude 40° north and longitude 90 0 or 6 1 * west of Greenwich.] 


Date. 


1915 

January 1.... 
January 15... 
February 1 .. 
February 15 . 

March 1. 

March 15 .... 

April 1. 

April 15. 

May 1. 

May 15. 

June 1. 

June 15. 

July 1. 

July 15. 

August 1 .. .. 
August 15 . .. 
September 1 . 
September 15 
October 1. ... 
October 15 . .. 
November 1.. 
November 15 
December 1. . 
December 15. 


East elonga¬ 
tion. 


O 51 - 7 


23 

22 

21 

20 

19 

18 

17 

l6 

15 

14 

13 

12 

12 

IO 

9 

8 

7 

6 

6 

4 

3 

2 

2 


52.5 
45-3 

50- 1 

54-8 

59-6 

52.7 

57-7 

54 - 8 

59-9 

53 - 3 

58.5 

55 - 9 
01. 1 

54 - 5 
59-8 

53- 2 
58.3 

55 - 5 
00. 6 

53 - 7 

58.6 
55-6 
00. 4 


Upper culmi¬ 
nation. 


6 46. 9 
5 51-6 
4 44-5 
3 49-2 
2 54-o 

1 58.8 
o 5i-9 


23 52-9 

22 50. o 
21 55 -i 
20 48. 5 
19 53 - 7 
18 51. 1 
17 56 . 3 
16 49. 7 
15 55 -o 

14 48. 4 
13 53 - 5 
12 50.7 
11 55-8 
10 48. 9 
9 53-8 
8 50-8 
7 55-6 


West elonga¬ 
tion. 


12 42. I 
II 46. 8 
IO 39. 7 
9 44-4 
8 49-2 


54-0 
47 - 1 
52.0 
49. 2 
54 - 2 
47-6 
52.8 
50 - 2 


23 5 i -5 
22 44.9 
21 50. 2 
20 43. 6 
19 48 . 7 
18 45 - 9 
17 5i-o 
16 44. 1 
15 49 -o 
14 46.0 

13 5o. 8 


Lower cul¬ 
mination. 


18 44 - 9 
17 49-6 

16 42. 5 
15 47 -2 

14 52.0 
13 56. 8 

12 49-9 
11 54-8 
10 52.0 
9 57 -o 
8 50.4 

7 55-6 
6 53 -o 
58.2 
51.7 

56.9 
50.3 

55-4 


o 52.7 


23 53- 8 

22 46.9 
21 51.8 
20 48. 8 
19 53- 6 


A. To refer the above tabular quantities to years other than 1915. 


[subtract 1. 7 up to March 1 
For year I 9°8| su ^ )tract ^ 6 on and after March 1 


1909 subtract 4. 4 

1910 subtract 

3-2 

1911 subtract 1. 8 

1 subtract 0. 4 

^ 2 [subtract 4.3 

1913 subtract 

2.9 

1914 subtract 

i -5 

[add 

1. 6 

I 9 I [subtract 2. 3 
1917 subtract 0. 7 

1918 add 

0.9 

1919 add 

2.5 

[add 

4. 0 

I ^ 2 °|add 

0.1 

1921 add 

1. 6 

1922 add 

3 -1 

1923 add 

4-5 

[add 

I 9 2 4 |add 

5-9 
2.0 

1925 add 

3-3 

1926 add 

4.6 

1927 add 

5-9 

[add 

7. 2 

'S^add 

3-3 


1. 6 up to March 1 


4. o up to March 1 

o. 1 on and after March 1 


5.9 up to March 1 

2. o on and after March 1 


7. 2 up to March 1 

3. 3 on and after March 1 









































TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 8 1 

B. To refer to any calendar day other than the first and fifteenth of each month 
SUBTRACT the quantities below from the tabular quantity for the PRECEDING DATE. 


Day of month. 

Minutes. 

No. of days 

2 or 16 

3-9 

I 

3 

17 

7.8 

2 

4 

18 

11. 8 

3 

5 

19 

15-7 

4 

6 

20 

19. 6 

5 

7 

21 

23-5 

6 

8 

22 

27.4 

7 

9 

23 

3 1 - 4 

8 

10 

24 

35-3 

9 

11 

25 

39 - 2 

10 

12 

26 

43 - 1 

11 

13 

27 

47.0 

12 

14 

28 

51.0 

13 


29 

54-9 

14 


30 

58.8 

15 


3 i 

62. 7 

16 


C. To refer the table to Standard time and to the civil or common method of reckoning: 

( а ) Add to the tabular quantities four minutes for every degree of longitude the 
place is west of the Standard meridian and subtract when the place is east of the 
Standard meridian. 

( б ) The astronomical day begins twelve hours after the civil day, i. e., begins at 
noon on the civil day of the same date, and is reckoned from o to 24 hours. Conse¬ 
quently an astronomical time less than twelve hours refers to the same civil day, 
whereas an astronomical time greater than twelve hours refers to the morning of the 
next civil day. 

It will be noticed that for the tabular year two eastern elongations occur on Janu¬ 
ary 14 and two western elongations on July 13. There are also two upper culminations 
on April 14 and two lower culminations on October 14. The lower culmination either 
follows or precedes the upper culmination by n h 58“.o. 

D. To refer to any other than the tabular latitude between the limits of io° and 50 0 
north: Add to the time of west elongation o m . 10 for every degree south of 40 0 and 
subtract from the time of west elongation o m . 16 for every degree north of 40 0 . 
Reverse these operations for correcting times of east elongation. 

E. To refer to any other than the tabular longitude: Add o m .i6 for each 15 0 east of 
the ninetieth meridian and subtract o ra .i6 for each 15 0 west of the ninetieth meridian. 

121220°—19-7 . 


82 

Table VIII 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM 


.—Azimuth of Polaris when at elongation for any year between ipo8 and 1928. 


Latitude. 

1908 

1909 

1910 

I9II 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

1917 

| 

O 

0 r 

O / 

O t 

O ' 

O / 

O / 

O / 

O / 

O / 

* O / 

10 

1 12.2 

1 11.8 

i 11.5 

I II .2 

I 10.9 

I 10.6 

1 10.3 

I 10 0 

1 09.6 

1 ° 9-3 

II 

12.4 

12. I 

11.8 

11.4 

II. I 

10.8 

10.5 

IO. 2 

09.9 

09.6 

12 

12.6 

12.3 

12.0 

ii-7 

II.4 

II. I 

10.8 

IO.4 

10. I 

09.8 

13 

12.9 

12.6 

12.3 

12. O 

11.7 

11.4 

11.0 

IO.7 

10.4 

10. I 

14 

13-2 

12.9 

12.6 

12.3 

12.0 

11.6 

ii-3 

II .0 

10.7 

10.4 

15 

13 - 6 

13-2 

12.9 

12.6 

12.3 

12.0 

11.6 

n -3 

II .0 

10.7 

16 

13-9 

13-6 

I 3 - 3 

13.0 

12.6 

12.3 

12.0 

11.7 

11.4 

II.0 

17 

14-3 

14.0 

13-7 

13-4 

13-0 

12. 7 

12.4 

12.0 

ii -7 

11.4 

18 

14.7 

14.4 

14.1 

13-7 

13-4 

13 -1 

12.8 

12.4 

12. I 

11.8 

19 

15-2 

14.8 

14-5 

14.2 

13-8 

13-5 

13.2 

12.8 

12.5 

12.2 

20 

15-6 

15-3 

15-0 

14.6 

14-3 

14.0 

13-6 

13-3 

13.0 

12.7 

21 

16. I 

15-8 

15-4 

15 -1 

14.8 

14-5 

14.1 

13-8 

13-5 

I 3 -I 

22 

16.6 

16.3 

16.0 

I 5 - 6 

15-3 

15-0 

14.6 

14-3 

14.0 

13-6 

23 

17.2 

16.9 

16.5 

16.2 

J 5-9 

15-5 

15-2 

14.8 

14-5 

14.2 

24 

17.8 

17.4 

17.1 

16.8 

16.4 

l6. I 

15-8 

15-4 

15 -1 

14-7 

25 

18.4 

18.1 

17.7 

17-4 

17.0 

16.7 

16.4 

16.0 

15-7 

15-3 

26 

*9-1 

18.7 

18.4 

18.0 

17.7 

17-3 

17.0 

16.6 

16.3 

16.0 

27 

19.8 

19.4 

19.1 

18.7 

18.4 

18.0 

17.7 

17-3 

17.0 

16.6 

28 

20.5 

20. I 

19.8 

19.4 

19.1 

18.7 

18.4 

IS. 0 

17.7 

17-3 

29 

21.3 

20.9 

20.5 

20. 2 

19.8 

19-5 

19.1 

18.8 

18.4 

18.1 

3 ° 

22.1 

21. 7 

21.3 

21. 0 

20.6 

20.3 

19.9 

19.6 

19. 2 

18.8 

31 

22.9 

22.5 

22. 2 

21.8 

21.5 

21.1 

20. 7 

20.4 

20.0 

19-7 

32 

23.8 

23-4 

23.1 

22. 7 

22.3 

22.0 

21.6 

21.2 

20.9 

20.5 

33 

24.7 

24-3 

24.O 

23.6 

23-3 

22.9 

22.5 

22. I 

21.8 

21.4 

34 

25-7 

25-3 

25.0 

24.6 

24. 2 

23.8 

23-5 

23.1 

22. 7 

22.4 

35 

26.8 

26.4 

26.0 

25.6 

25.2 

24.9 

24-5 

24.1 

23-7 

23-3 

36 

27.9 

27-5 

27. I 

26.7 

26.3 

25-9 

25-5 

25.2 

24.8 

24.4 

37 

29.0 

28.6 

28.2 

27.8 

27.4 

27.O 

26.7 

26.3 

25-9 

25-3 

38 

30.2 

29.8 

29.4 

29.O 

28.6 

28.2 

27.8 

27.4 

27.0 

26.6 

39 

31-4 

3 i-o 

30.6 

30-2 

29.8 

29.4 

29.0 

28.6 

28.2 

27.8 

40 

32.8 

32.4 

32.0 

31.6 

3 i-1 

3°-7 

30.3 

29.9 

29-5 

29. I 

41 

34-2 

33-8 

33-4 

32.9 

32-5 

32.1 

31-7 

31-3 

30.9 

3 °- 4 

42 

35-6 

35-2 

34-8 

34-4 

34-0 

33-5 

33-1 

32.7 

32.3 

31-9 

43 

37-2 

36.8 

36-3 

35-9 

35-5 

35 -o 

34-6 

34-2 

33-8 

33-4 

44 

38.8 

38.4 

37-9 

37-5 

37-1 

36.6 

36.2 

35-8 

35-3 

34-9 

45 

40-5 

40. I 

39 - 6 

39-2 

38-7 

38.3 

37-8 

37-4 

37-0 

36.6 

46 

42.3 

41.9 

4 1 ' 4 

41.0 

40.5 

40. I 

39-6 

39-2 

38.7 

38.3 

47 

44-2 

43-7 

43-3 

42.8 

42.4 

41.9 

4 i -5 

41.0 

40.6 

40. I 

48 

46.3 

45-8 

45-3 

44-8 

44-4 

43-9 

43-4 

43-0 

42.5 

42.0 

49 

48.4 

47-9 

47-4 

46.9 

46.4 

46.0 

45-5 

45-0 

44-5 

44.1 

50 

1 5 °- 6 

1 5 °-1 

1 49.6 

1 49.1 

1 48.6 

1 48.2 

1 47-7 

1 47.2 

1 46-7 

I 46.2 























TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 


83 


Table VIII. —Azimuth of Polaris when at elongation for any year between ipoS and 

1928 —Concluded. 


Latitude. * 

1918 

1919 

1920 

1921 

1922 

1923 

1924 

1925 

1926 

1927 

1928 

O 

0 / 

O t 

0 / 

O f 

O / 

O / 

O t 

O / 

O / 

O / 

O / 

10 

I 09.0 

1 08. 7 

I 08.4 

1 08.1 

1 07.8 

1 07.4 

I 07.2 

1 06.8 

1 06.5 

1 06.2 

1 ° 5 - 9 

II 

09. 2 

08.9 

08.6 

08.3 

08.0 

07.7 

07.4 

07.0 

06. 7 

06.4 

06.1 

12 

09-5 

09. 2 

08 9 

08.6 

08.2 

07.9 

07.6 

° 7 - 3 

07.0 

06.7 

06.4 

13 

09.8 

09.4 

09. I 

08.8 

08.5 

08. 2 

07.8 

07.6 

07.2 

06.9 

06.6 

14 

10. 0 

09.7 

09.4 

O9. I 

08.8 

08.5 

08.2 

07.8 

07-5 

07. 2 

06.9 

15 

10.4 

10. 0 

09.7 

09.4 

09. I 

08.8 

08. 5 

08.1 

07.8 

° 7-5 

07. 2 

l6 

10.7 

IO.4 

10. I 

09.8 

09.4 

09. I 

oS. 8 

0S.5 

08.2 

07.8 

07.5 

17 

II. I 

10.8 

10.4 

IO. I 

09.8 

09-5 

09. 2 

0S.8 

08.5 

08.2 

07.9 

l8 

11.5 

II. I 

10.7 

io -5 

IO. 2 

09.8 

09 -5 

09. 2 

08.9 

08.6 

08.2 

J9 

it -9 

11.6 

11.2 

10.9 

10.6 

IO. 2 

09.9 

09. 6 

09-3 

O9.O 

08.6 

20 

12.3 

12.0 

n.7 

11.4 

11.O 

10.7 

10.4 

IO. 0 

09.7 

09.4 

09.1 

21 

12.8 

12.5 

12.2 

11.8 

u -5 

II. 2 

10.8 

10.5 

IO. 2 

09.8 

° 9 * 5 

22 

13-3 

13.0 

12.6 

12.3 

12.0 

II.6 

it-3 

II.0 

10.6 

10.3 

10.0 

23 

13.8 

13-5 

13-2 

12.8 

12.5 

12. 2 

11.8 

11 .5 

II. 2 

10.8 

10.5 

24 

14-4 

14.1 

13-7 

13-4 

13.0 

12.7 

12.4 

12. 0 

11.7 

11.4 

II .0 

25 

I5 -0 

14-7 

14-3 

14.0 

13.6 

13-3 

13.0 

12.6 

12.3 

n.9 

11.6 

26 

15.6 

15-3 

14.9 

14.7 

14.2 

13-9 

13-6 

13.2 

I2.9 

12.5 

12.2 

27 

16.3 

15-9 

15-6 

15-2 

14.9 

14.6 

14. 2 

13-9 

13-5 

13.2 

12.8 

28 

17.0 

16.6 

16.3 

15-9 

15-6 

15-2 

14.9 

14.6 

14. 2 

13.8 

13.5 

29 

17.7 

17.4 

17.0 

16.6 

16.3 

16.0 

15-6 

15-2 

14.9 

14.6 

14.2 

30 

18.5 

18.1 

17.8 

17.4 

17.0 

16.7 

16.4 

16.0 

15 6 

15.3 

14.9 

31 

19-3 

18.9 

18.6 

18.2 

17.9 

17-5 

17. 2 

16.8 

16.4 

16.1 

15.7 

32 

20. I 

19.8 

19.4 

19.1 

18.7 

18.3 

18.0 

17.6 

17.2 

16.9 

16.5 

33 

21.0 

20. 7 

20.3 

19.9 

19.6 

19. 2 

18.8 

18.5 

18.1 

17.8 

17.4 

34 

22.0 

21.6 

21. 2 

20. 9 

20.5 

20. I 

19.8 

19.4 

19.0 

18.6 

18.3 

35 

23.0 

22.6 

22. 2 

21.8 

21.5 

21. I 

20. 7 

20. 4 

20.0 

19.6 

19.2 

36 

24.O 

23.6 

23-3 

22.9 

22.5 

22. I 

21. 7 

21.4 

21.0 

20.6 

20.2 

37 

25-1 

24.7 

24-3 

24.0 

23.6 

23.2 

22.8 

22.4 

22.0 

21.6 

21.3 

38 

26.2 

25-9 

25-5 

25-1 

24.7 

24.3 

23-9 

23-5 

23.2 

22.8 

22.4 

39 

27-5 

27. I 

26.7 

26.3 

25.8 

25-5 

25-1 

24.7 

24.3 

23.9 

23.5 

40 

28.7 

28.3 

27.9 

27-5 

27. I 

26.7 

26.3 

25-9 

25.5 

25.1 

24.7 

41 

30.0 

29.6 

29. I 

28.8 

28.4 

28.0 

27.6 

27. 2 

26.8 

26.4 

26.0 

42 

31-5 

31.0 

30.6 

30.2 

29.8 

29.4 

29.0 

28.6 

28.2 

27.8 

27-3 

43 

32.9 

32.5 

32.1 

31-8 

31.2 

30.8 

30.4 

30-0 

29.6 

29.1 

28.7 

44 

34-5 

34 -i 

33-6 

33-2 

32.8 

32-4 

3 i -9 

31-5 

31 -1 

3°-6 

30.2 

45 

36.1 

35-7 

35-3 

34-8 

34-4 

34 -o 

33-5 

33-1 

32.6 

32.2 

31.8 

46 

37-8 

37-4 

37-0 

36.5 

36.1 

35-6 

35-2 

34-8 

34-3 

33-9 

33-4 

47 

39-7 

39-2 

38.8 

38.3 

37-9 

37-4 

37-0 

36.5 

36.1 

35-6 

35-2 

48 

4I.6 

41.1 

40.7 

40.2 

39-8 

39-3 

38.8 

38.4 

37-9 

37-4 

37-0 

49 

43-6 

43 -t 

42.7 

42. 2 

41-7 

41-3 

40.8 

40.3 

39-9 

39-4 

38.9 

5 ° 

1 45-7 

1 45-3 

1 44.8 

1 44-3 

1 43.8 

1 43-4 

1 42.9 

1 42.4 

1 41.9 

1 41-4 

I 41.0 


The above table was computed with the mean declination of Polaris for each year. 
A more accurate result will be had by applying to the tabular values the following cor¬ 
rection, which depend on the difference of the mean and the apparent place of the star. 
The deduced azimuth will, in general, be correct within o'. 3. 


For middle of 

Correction 

/ 

For middle of 

Correction 

/ 

January 

- 0.5 

July 

4 - 0 . 2 

February 

—0.4 

August 

+0. I 

March 

-0.3 

September 

—O. I 

April 

0. 0 

October 

—O. 4 

May 

-fo. I 

November 

— 0. 6 

June 

-f O. 2 

December 

—0. 8 

determine the TRUE 

MERIDIAN 

BY OBSERVATION ON POLARIS AT ELON- 


CATION WITH A PLUMB LINE AND PEEP SIGHT. 

i. Attach the plumb line to a support situated as far above the ground as practi¬ 
cable, such.as the limb of a tree, a piece of board nailed or otherwise fastened to a 
telegraph pole, a house, barn, or other building affording a clear view in a north and 
south direction. 



















8 4 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


The plumb bob may consist of any weighty material, such as a brick, or a piece of 
iron or stone, weighing 4 to 5 pounds, which will hold the plumb line straight and 
vertical fully as well as one of turned and finished metal. 

Strongly illuminate the plumb line just below its support by a lamp or candle, care 
being taken to obscure the source of light from the view of the observer by an opaque 
screen. 

For a peep sight, cut a slot about one-sixteenth of an inch wide in a thin piece of 
board, or nail two strips of tin, with straight edges, to a square block of wood, so 
arranged that they will stand vertical when the block is placed flat on its base upon a 
smooth horizontal rest, which will be placed at a convenient height south of the plumb 
line and firmty secured in an east and west direction, in such a position that when 
viewed through the peep sight Polaris will appear about a foot below the support of 
the plumb line. 

The position may be determined by trial the night preceding that set for the 
observation. 

About thirty minutes before the time of elongation, as given in the tables of elon¬ 
gation, bring the peep sight into the same line of sight with the plumb line and Polaris. 

To reach elongation the star will move off the plumb line to the east for eastern 
elongation, or to the west for western elongation; therefore by moving the peep sight 
in the proper direction, east or west, as the case may be, keep the star on the plumb 
line until it appears to remain stationary, thus indicating that it has reached its point 
of elongation. 

The peep sight will now be secured in place by a clamp or weight, and all further 
operations will be deferred until the next morning. 

4. By daylight place a slender rod at a distance of 200 or 300 feet from the peep 
sight and exactly in range with it and the plumb line; carefully measure this distance. 

Take from the Table VIII the azimuth of Polaris corresponding to the latitude of 
the station and year of observation; find the natural tangent of said azimuth and 
multiply it by the distance from the peep sight to the rod; the product will express the 
distance to be laid off from the rod exactly at right angles to the direction already 
determined (to the west for eastern elongation or to the east for western elongation) to 
a point which with the peep sight will define the direction of the true meridian with a 
fair degree of accuracy. 

III.—TO DETERMINE THE TRUE MERIDIAN BY OBSERVING THE TRANSITS OF POLARIS 
AND ANOTHER STAR ACROSS THE SAME VERTICAL PLANE- 

This simple method for tracing out on the ground a true north and south line, one 
demanding only a very slender instrumental outfit, was given in Dalande’s Astronomy 
published more than a century ago. It was used by Andrew Ellicott in 1785 in his 
boundary survey work of Pennsylvania, and was again brought to notice in the present 
century by Dr. Charles Davies. It consists in watching for the time when Polaris and 
a given bright star come to the same vertical, and then after a short lapse of time, given 
in a table, Polaris will be found exactly on the meridian and hence can be referred to 
the horizon and to any meridian mark placed there. 


TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 


85 


The verticality may be ascertained by a plumb line 
or by the vertical thread of a transit instrument; the 
method demands neither a graduated circle, nor a 
chronometer, nor any exact knowledge of the local 
time, an ordinary watch being sufficient to measure 
the short tabular interval. 

Early in the present century the star Alioth (e Ursse 
Majoris) was favorably situated for the use of the 
method; however, in 1850 the interval between times 
of verticality and of culmination already amounted to 
17 minutes, and at the present time has become so large 
that this star is no longer suitable. Zeta (C) Ursae 
Majoris or Delta (d) Cassiopeiae should now be substi¬ 
tuted for it, both these stars being now in very 
favorable positions. Zeta (C) Ursae Majoris, or Mizar, 
as it was called by the ancient Arabians, is the middle 
one of the three stars in the tail of the Great Bear; the 
small star near it is Alcor. Delta (d) Cassiopeiae is at 
the bottom of the less perfectly formed V of the letter 
W, as frequently imagined to unite roughly the five 
brightest stars of this constellation. 

The diagram (Fig. 27), drawn to scale, exhibits 
the principal stars of the constellations Cassiopeia and 
Great Bear, with Delta (d) Cassiopeia, Zeta (C) of 
the Great Bear, and Polaris on the meridian, represented 
by the straight line, Polaris being at lozver culmina¬ 
tion. 

In employing this method the following instructions 
may be followed: 

1. Select that one of the two stars which at the 
time of the year when the observation is made passes 
the meridian below Polaris. When the star passes the 
meridian above the pole it is too near the zenith to be 
of service. Delta (d) Cassiopeiae is on the meridian 
below Polaris and the pole at midnight about April 10, 
and is, therefore, the proper star to use at that date and 
for some two or three months before and after. Six 
months later the star Zeta (C) Ursae Majoris will supply 
its place. 

2. Using the apparatus just described under II, place 
the ‘ ‘ peep sight ’ ’ in the line with the plumb line and 
Polaris, and move it to the west as Polaris moves east, 
until Polaris and d Cassiopeia, for example, appear upon 
the plumb line together, and carefully note the time by 
a clock or watch; then by moving the peep sight, 
preserve the alignment with Polaris and the plumb line 


Great 


JJea.r 



K 

\<L 



Polaris 


N.Pole 


€\ 


P' 


- K ,’fi 

y y 

<x 


CassLjpeta. 


Fig. 27.—The diagram held perpendic¬ 
ular to the line of sight directed to the 
pole, with the right-hand side of the page 
uppermost, will represent the configura¬ 
tion of the constellations with Polaris 
near eastern elongation at midnight about 
July 11. Inverted , it will show Zeta (f) of 
the Great Bear and Polaris on the meridian 
(the former below and the latter above the 
pole) at midnight about October io; and 
held with left-hand side uppermost, the 
diagram will indicate the relative sit¬ 
uations for midnight about January 8, 
with Polaris near western elongation. The 
arrows indicate the direction of apparent 
motion. 






86 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


(paying no further attention to the other star); at the expiration of the small interval 
of time given below the peep sight and plumb line will define the true meridian, which 
may be permanently marked for future use. 

Annual 

increase. 

For Zeta (?) Ursse Majoris in 1912 +7.1 minutes 0.40 minute. 

For Delta ( 5 ) Cassiopeiae in 1912 +8.2 “ 0.42 “ 

The method given in this article for finding the true meridian can not be used with 
advantage at places belotv about 38° north latitude, on account of the haziness of the 
atmosphere near the horizon. 

The foregoing methods for the determination of the true meridian are excellent 
and when available they answer the requirements of the surveyor and give results 
with all desirable precision. They do not require an accurate knowledge of the time, 
which is their principal advantage. The relative motion of the stars employed in the 
third method and the change in direction of motion of Polaris at elongation indicate 
with sufficient exactness the moment when the observation should be made. Stormy 
weather, a hazy atmosphere, or the presence of clouds may interfere or entirely prevent 
observation when the star is either at elongation or on the meridian, and both events 
sometimes occur in broad daylight or at an. inconvenient hour of the night. Under 
such circumstances a simple method applicable at any time (Polaris being visible) is 
desirable and can often be used by the surveyor when other methods fail. 

IV.—TO DETERMINE THE TRUE MERIDIAN BY MEANS OF AN OBSERVATION OF POLARIS 

AT ANY HOUR WHEN THE STAR IS VISIBLE, THE CORRECT LOCAL MEAN TIME 

BEING KNOWN. a 

+ 

This method requires a knowledge of the local mean time within one or two 
minutes, as in the extreme case when Polaris is at culmination its azimuth changes 
1' (arc) in 2*4 minutes (time). The Standard time can usually be obtained at a 
telegraph office from the signals which are sent out from observatories. From this 
the local mean time may be derived by subtracting four minutes of time for every 
degree of longitude west of the Standard meridian or adding four minutes for every 
degree east of the Standard meridian. The local mean time may be obtained also by 
observations of the sun, one method being explained later. 

The following table, IX, is intended to be used in connection with the American 
Kphemeris and Nautical Almanac. The surveyor should read carefully the chapter in 
that publication in which the formation and use of the Kphemeris are explained, 
especially the portion defining the different kinds of time. 


a cf. Appendix No. 10, Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1895. 




TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 87 

The following example explains the use of the table and the derivation of the hour 
angle of Polaris : 


Position, latitude 36° 2o / N., longitude 8o° 07'.5 or 5 h 2o m 30 s W. of 

Greenwich. 





Time of observation, July 10. 1908, standard (75th mer.) mean time 



h. 

8 

m. 

52 

s. 

40 p. 

Reduction to local time 



- 

20 

30 

Local mean time 



8 

32 

IO 

Reduction to sidereal time (Table III, Amer. Ephem.) 


• 

+ 

01 

24 

Sidereal time mean noon, Greenwich, July 10, 1902 



7 

12 

02 

Correction for longitude 5 h 2o m 30 s (Table III, Amer. Ephem.) 



+ 

00 

53 

Local sidereal time 



15 

46 

29 

Apparent right ascension of Polaris, July 10, 1908 



1 

26 

05 

Hour angle before upper culmination 


t 

9 

39 

36 

Declination for which Table IX applies 

88 5 x 



9 

Apparent declination, July 10, 1908 

88 48.7 




Decrease in declination 

— 

2-3 




Azimuth from Table IX (interpolated), 

O / 

0 48 

tr 

39 




Correction for 2'. 3 decrease in declination 

+ 1 

37 




Computed azimuth 

0 50 

16 

East 

of north. 


It is to be remembered that Polaris is east of the meridian for twelve hours before, 
and west of the meridian for twelve hours after, upper culmination. 

Without the American Ephemeris the table may be conveniently used for obtaining 
the true meridian, in connection with Table VII giving the approximate mean times of 
culminations of Polaris, and the additional knowledge of the fact that the mean decli¬ 
nation of Polaris is 88° 51'. 1 in 1915 and increasing at the rate of about o'.3 per year. 
Without the use of the Ephemeris the computation would be as follows: 


Time of observation, July 10, 1908 standard (75th mer.) mean time 
Reduction to local mean time 

Local mean time 

Local mean time of upper culmination of Polaris (Table VII and A) 

Mean time of observation before upper culmination 
Reduction to sidereal time 

Hour angle before upper culmination 

Declination for which Table IX applies 
Mean declination 1908 


h. 

m. 

s. 

8 

52 

40 

— 

20 

30 

8 

32 

IO 

18 

IO 

12 

9 

38 

02 

+ 

01 

35 

9 

39 

37 


88 51 
88 49.o 


Decrease in declination 2. 0 

O / // 

Azimuth from Table IX 0 48 4 ° 

Correction for 2 / .o decrease in declination + 1 24 

Computed azimuth 0 5 ° °4 East of north. 

Tables are generally given in books on surveying for reducing mean solar to sidereal 
time, but for this computation it is near enough to consider the correction io 8 an hour, 
as the stars gain very nearly four minutes on the Sun each day. 












88 PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 

Table IX .—Azimuth of Polaris at any hour angle. 


Hour angle 
before or 
after upper 


Azimuth of Polaris computed for declination 88° 51' 


tion 

Lati¬ 
tude 10° 

Lati¬ 
tude n° 

Lati¬ 
tude 12° 

Lati¬ 
tude 13 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 14 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 15 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 16 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 17 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 18° 

Lati¬ 
tude 19 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 20° 

Lati¬ 

tude 

IO° 

Lati¬ 

tude 

20° 

h m 

O 

/ 

n 

O 

/ 

n 

O 

/ 

n 

O 

/ 

// 

O t 

// 

O 

/ 

n 

0 

/ 

n 

O 

/ If 

O 

/ 

// 

O 

/ 

// 

O / 

// 

// 

ll 

0 15 

O 

04 

36 

0 

04 

37 

O 

04 

38 

0 

04 

39 

0 04 

4 i 

O 

04 

42 

0 

04 

43 

O 

04 45 

0 

04 

47 

O 

04 

48 

O 04 

50 

- 4 

- 4 

0 30 

O 

09 

11 

0 

09 

13 

O 

09 

15 

0 

09 

17 

0 09 

20 

0 

09 

23 

0 

09 

25 

0 

09 29 

0 

09 

32 

O 

09 

36 

O 09 

39 

- 8 

- 8 

0 4.5 

0 

13 

43 

0 

13 

48 

O 

13 

49 

0 

13 

53 

0 13 

57 

0 

14 

or 

0 

14 

°5 

0 

14 IO 

0 

14 

15 

0 

14 

20 

0 14 

26 

— 12 

-13 

I OO 

0 

18 

12 

0 

18 

16 

0 

18 

20 

0 

18 

25 

0 18 

30 

0 

18 

35 

0 

18 

41 

0 

18 47 

0 

18 

54 

0 

19 

01 

0 19 

09 

— l6 

-17 

1 15 

0 

22 

36 

0 

22 

41 

0 

22 

46 

0 

22 

52 

0 22 

58 

0 

23 

05 

0 

23 

12 

0 

23 20 

0 

23 

28 

0 

23 

37 

0 23 

46 

— 20 

—21 

1 30 

0 

26 

54 

0 

27 

00 

0 

27 

06 

0 

27 

13 

O 27 

21 

0 

27 

29 

0 

27 

37 

0 

27 46 

0 

27 

56 

0 

28 

07 

0 28 

18 

-24 

-25 

1 45 

0 

31 

05 

0 

31 

12 

0 

31 

19 

0 

31 

27 

0 31 

36 

0 

31 

45 

0 

31 

55 

0 

32 06 

0 

32 

17 

0 

32 

29 

0 32 

42 

-27 

-29 

2 00 

0 

35 

09 

0 

35 

16 

0 

35 

24 

0 

35 

33 

0 35 

43 

0 

35 

53 

0 

36 

04 

0 

36 16 

0 

36 

29 

0 

36 

43 

0 36 

57 

-31 

-32 

215 

0 

39 

03 

0 

39 

11 

0 

39 

20 

0 

39 

3 ° 

0 39 

41 

0 

39 

52 

0 

40 

04 

0 

40 18 

0 

40 

32 

0 

40 

47 

0 41 

03 

-34 

-36 

2 30 

0 

42 

47 

0 

42 

56 

0 

43 

06 

0 

43 

17 

0 43 

28 

0 

43 

41 

0 

43 

54 

0 

44 09 

0 

44 

24 

0 

44 

40 

0 44 

58 

-37 

-39 

2 45 

0 

46 

19 

0 

46 

29 

0 

48 

40 

0 

48 

52 

0 47 

04 

0 

47 

18 

0 

47 

32 

0 

47 48 

0 

48 

04 

0 

48 

22 

0 48 

4 i 

-40 

-42 

3 00 

0 

49 

40 

0 

49 

51 

0 

5 ° 

02 

0 

5 ° 

15 

0 50 

28 

0 

5 ° 

42 

0 

5 ° 

58 

0 

51 15 

0 

51 

33 

0 

51 

52 

0 52 

12 

-43 

-45 

315 

0 

52 

48 

0 

52 

59 

0 

53 

11 

0 

53 

24 

0 53 

39 

0 

53 

54 

0 

54 

11 

0 

54 28 

0 

54 

47 

0 

55 

07 

0 55 

29 

-46 

-48 

3 3 ° 

0 

55 

43 

0 

55 

54 

0 

58 

07 

0 

58 

21 

0 56 

39 

0 

58 

52 

0 

57 

°9 

0 

57 28 

0 

57 

47 

0 

58 

09 

0 5S 

31 

-49 

-51 

3 45 

0 

58 

22 

0 

58 

34 

0 

58 

48 

0 

59 

02 

0 59 

18 

0 

59 

35 

0 

59 

53 

I 

OO 12 

I 

00 

33 

I 

00 

55 

I OI 

18 

-51 

-53 

4 00 

I 

OO 

47 

I 

OI 

00 

I 

OI 

13 

I 

OI 

28 

I OI 

44 

I 

02 

02 

I 

02 

21 

I 

02 4I 

I 

03 

02 

I 

03 

25 

I 03 

49 

-53 

-55 

415 

I 

02 

59 

I 

03 

09 

I 

03 

23 

I 

03 

38 

1 03 

55 

I 

°4 

13 

I 

04 

33 

I 

04 53 

I 

05 

15 

I 

05 

39 

I 06 

04 

-55 

-57 

4 30 

I 

04 

49 

I 

05 

02 

I 

05 

17 

I 

05 

33 

1 05 

5 ° 

I 

06 

08 

I 

06 

28 

I 

06 49 

I 

07 

12 

I 

07 

38 

I 08 

02 

-58 

-59 

4 45 

I 

06 

25 

I 

Ob 

39 

I 

06 

53 

I 

07 

10 

1 07 

27 

I 

07 

46 

I 

08 

06 

I 

08 28 

I 

08 

51 

I 

°9 

15 

I 09 

42 

-58 

—6l 

5 00 

I 

07 

44 

I 

07 

58 

I 

08 

13 

I 

08 

29 

1 08 

47 

I 

09 

06 

I 

09 

26 

I 

09 48 

I 

IO 

12 

I 

IO 

37 

I II 

03 

-59 

— 62 

515 

I 

08 

46 

I 

08 

59 

I 

09 

15 

I 

09 

31 

I 09 

49 

I 

IO 

08 

I 

IO 

29 

I 

10 51 

I 

II 

15 

I 

II 

40 

I 12 

07 

— 60 

—62 

5 30 

I 

09 

3 ° 

I 

09 

43 

I 

09 

59 

I 

IO 

15 

I IO 

33 

I 

IO 

52 

I 

II 

13 

I 

11 35 

I 

II 

59 

I 

12 

25 

I 12 

52 

—60 

-63 

5 45 

I 

09 

58 

I 

IO 

09 

I 

IO 

25 

I 

IO 

41 

I IO 

59 

I 

II 

18 

I 

II 

39 

I 

12 OI 

I 

12 

25 

I 

12 

51 

1 13 

18 

—6i 

-63 

6 00 

I 

IO 

04 

I 

10 

17 

I 

IO 

32 * 

I 

IO 

49 

I II 

07 

I 

II 

26 

I 

II 

47 

I 

12 09 

I 

12 

33 

I 

12 

58 

1 13 

26 

—61 

-64 

6 15 

I 

09 

54 

I 

10 

07 

I 

IO 

22 

I 

IO 

39 

I IO 

55 

I 

II 

15 

I 

II 

38 

I 

11 58 

I 

12 

22 

I 

12 

47 

1 13 

14 

—61 

-63 

6 30 

I 

09 

2 b 

I 

°9 

39 

I 

°9 

54 

I 

IO 

10 

I IO 

28 

I 

IO 

46 

I 

II 

07 

I 

II 29 

I 

II 

52 

I 

12 

17 

I 12 

44 

—60 

-83 

6 45 

I 

08 

40 

I 

08 

53 

I 

09 

08 

I 

09 

23 

I 09 

41 

I 

09 

59 

I 

IO 

19 

I 

10 41 

I 

II 

04 

I 

II 

29 

I II 

55 

—60 

—62 

7 00 

I 

07 

37 

I 

07 

5 ° 

I 

08 

°5 

I 

08 

19 

I 08 

36 

I 

08 

54 

I 

09 

14 

I 

09 35 

I 

09 

58 

I 

IO 

22 

I IO 

47 

-59 

-6l 

715 

I 

06 

16 

I 

06 

29 

I 

06 

42 

I 

06 

57 

I 07 

14 

I 

07 

32 

I 

07 

51 

I 

08 11 

I 

08 

33 

I 

08 

57 

I 09 

22 

-58 

—60 

7 3 ° 

I 

04 

39 

I 

04 

51 

I 

05 

04 

I 

05 

19 

I 05 

35 

I 

05 

52 

I 

06 

IO 

I 

06 30 

I 

ob 

52 

I 

07 

15 

1 07 

39 

-58 

-58 

7 45 

I 

02 

44 

I 

02 

58 

I 

03 

09 

I 

03 

23 

I 03 

38 

I 

03 

55 

I 

04 

13 

I 

°4 32 

I 

04 

53 

1 

05 

15 

1 05 

39 

-54 

-56 

8 00 

I 

OO 

34 

I 

OO 

45 

I 

00 

58 

I 

OI 

11 

I OI 

26 

I 

OI 

42 

I 

OI 

59 

I 

02 18 

I 

02 

38 

I 

02 

59 

1 03 

22 

-52 

-55 

8 15 

0 

58 

09 

0 

58 

19 

0 

58 

31 

0 

5 ! 

44 

0 58 

58 

0 

59 

13 

0 

59 

30 

0 

59 47 

I 

OO 

ob 

I 

OO 

27 

I 00 

49 

- 5 ° 

-53 

8 30 

0 

55 

28 

0 

55 

38 

0 

55 

49 

0 

58 

02 

0 56 

15 

0 

58 

29 

0 

56 

45 

0 

57 02 

0 

57 

20 

0 

57 

39 

0 58 

OO 

-48 

-50 

8 45 

0 

52 

33 

0 

52 

43 

0 

52 

53 

0 

53 

05 

0 53 

18 

0 

53 

31 

0 

53 

48 

0 

54 02 

0 

54 

19 

0 

54 

37 

8 54 

57 

-45 

-48 

9 00 

0 

49 

25 

0 

49 

33 

0 

49 

44 

0 

49 

ss 

0 50 

07 

0 

50 

19 

0 

5 ° 

33 

0 

50 48 

0 

51 

°4 

0 

51 

21 

0 51 

40 

-42 

-45 

915 

0 

46 

05 

0 

48 

13 

0 

48 

22 

0 

49 

32 

0 46 

43 

0 

48 

55 

0 

47 

08 

0 

47 21 

0 

47 

3 ° 

0 

47 

52 

0 48 

09 

-40 

-42 

9 3 ° 

0 

42 

32 

0 

42 

40 

0 

42 

48 

0 

42 

57 

0 43 

07 

0 

43 

18 

0 

43 

3 ° 

0 

43 43 

0 

43 

57 

0 

44 

11 

0 44 

27 

-37 

-38 

9 45 

0 

38 

49 

0 

38 

56 

0 

39 

03 

0 

39 

12 

0 39 

21 

0 

39 

31 

0 

39 

42 

0 

39 53 

0 

40 

ob 

0 

40 

19 

O 40 

33 

-34 

-35 

10 00 

0 

34 

56 

0 

35 

02 

0 

35 

09 

0 

35 

l6 

0 35 

24 

0 

35 

33 

0 

35 

43 

0 

35 53 

0 

36 

04 

0 

36 

16 

0 36 

29 

-31 

-31 

1015 

0 

3 ° 

54 

0 

30 

59 

0 

3 i 

05 

0 

31 

12 

0 31 

19 

0 

3 i 

27 

0 

3 i 

35 

0 

3 i 44 

0 

31 

.54 

0 

32 

°5 

0 32 

lb 

—28 

-28 

10 30 

0 

2 b 

44 

0 

2 b 

48 

0 

2 b 

54 

0 

2 b 

59 

O 27 

06 

0 

27 

12 

0 

27 

20 

0 

27 28 

0 

27 

38 

0 

27 

45 

O 27 

55 

-24 

-24 

10 45 

0 

22 

27 

0 

22 

31 

0 

22 

35 

0 

22 

40 

O 22 

45 

0 

22 

51 

0 

22 

57 

0 

23 °4 

0 

23 

II 

0 

23 

18 

0 23 

27 

—20 

— 20 

11 00 

0 

18 

04 

0 

18 

08 

0 

18 

II 

0 

18 

15 

0 18 

19 

0 

18 

24 

0 

18 

29 

0 

18 34 

0 

18 

40 

0 

18 

46 

0 18 

52 

—16 

— l6 

1115 

0 

13 

37 

0 

13 

40 

0 

13 

42 

0 

13 

45 

0 13 

48 

0 

13 

52 

0 

13 

56 

0 

14 OO 

0 

u 

04 

0 

14 

09 

0 14 

13 

—12 

— 12 

1130 

0 

09 

07 

0 

09 

08 

0 

09 

IO 

0 

09 

12 

O 09 

14 

0 

09 

lb 

0 

09 

19 

0 

09 22 

0 

09 

25 

0 

09 

28 

0 09 

31 

- 8 

- 8 

1145 

0 

04 

34 

0 

04 

33 

0 

04 

36 

0 

04 

37 

O 04 

38 

0 

04 

39 

0 

04 

40 

0 

04 41 

0 

04 

43 

0 

04 

44 

0 04 

48 

- 4 

- 4 

Elongation: 

































Azimuth 

I 

10 

04 

I 

IO 

is 

I 

10 

33 

I 

10 

49 

I II 

07 

I 

II 

26 

I 

II 

47 

I 

12 09 

I 

12 

33 

I 

12 

58 

I 13 

26 

—6l 

-64 


h 

m 

8 

h 

m 

s 

h 

m 

8 

h 

m 

8 

h m 

8 

h 

m 

8 

h 

m 

$ 

ll 

m s 

'h 

m 

8 

h 

m 

S 

h m 

5 



Hourangle 

5 

59 

II 

5 

59 

06 

5 

59 

02 

5 

58 

56 

5 58 

51 

5 

53 

46 

5 

58 

41 

5 

58 36 

5 

58 

3 ° 

5 

58 

25 

5 58 

19 

+2 

+ 2 


Correc¬ 
tion for i' 
increase 
in decli¬ 
nation of 
Polaris 




♦ 




















TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 


89 


Table IX .—Azimuth of Polaris at any hour angle —Continued. 













| 

Correc¬ 
tion for 1' 

Hour angle 
before or 
after upper 
culmina- 



Azimuth of Polaris computed for declination 88° 51' 



increase 
in decli¬ 
nation of 
Polaris 

tion 

Lati¬ 
tude 20° 

lati¬ 
tude 21° 

Lati¬ 
tude 22° 

Lati¬ 
tude 23 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 24 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 25 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 26° 

Lati¬ 
tude 27 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 28° 

Lati¬ 
tude 29 0 

Lati¬ 
tude 30 0 

Lati¬ 

tude 

20° 

Lati¬ 

tude 

30 0 

h m 

0 / // 

0 r n 

O / // 

Of// 

Of// 

O / // 

Of// 

O / // 

or// 

O / // 

0/// 

// 

// 

0 15 

0 30 

0 45 

0 04 50 

0 09 39 

014 26 

0 04 52 

0 09 43 

014 32 

0 04 55 

0 09 48 

0 14 38 

0 04 57 

0 09 52 

0 14 45 

0 04 59 

0 09 57 

0 14 52 

O 05 02 

O 10 02 

O 15 OO 

0 05 04 

0 10 07 

0 15 07 

0 05 07 

0 10 13 

0 15 16 

0 05 10 

0 10 19 

0 15 25 

0 05 13 

0 10 25 

0 15 34 

0 05 17 

0 10 31 

0 15 44 

- 4 
- 8 
-13 

- 5 

- 9 
-14 

1 00 

I 15 

1 30 

1 45 

019 09 

0 23 46 

0 2818 

0 32 42 

01916 

0 23 56 

0 28 29 

0 32 55 

O 19 25 

0 24 07 

0 28 42 

0 33 10 

0 19 34 

0 24 18 

0 28 55 

0 33 25 

0 19 43 

0 24 29 

0 29 09 

0 33 4 i 

O 19 53 

0 24 42 

0 29 24 

0 33 58 

0 20 04 

0 24 55 

0 29 39 

0 34 16 

0 20 15 

0 25 08 

0 29 55 

0 34 34 

0 20 26 

0 25 23 

0 3012 

0 34 54 

0 20 39 

0 25 38 

0 30 30 

0 35 15 

0 20 51 

0 25 54 

0 30 49 

0 35 37 

-17 
— 21 

-25 

-29 

-18 

-23 

-27 

- 3 i 

2 00 

2 15 

2 30 

2 45 

0 36 57 

0 4103 

0 44 58 

0 48 41 

0 37 12 

0 41 20 

0 45 16 

0 49 01 

0 37 29 

0 41 3 § 

0 45 36 

0 49 22 

0 37 46 

0 41 57 

0 45 57 

0 49 45 

0 38 04 

0 4217 

0 4619 

0 50 08 

0 38 23 

0 42 38 

0 46 42 

0 50 33 

0 38 43 

0 43 00 

0 47 06 

0 51 00 

0 39 04 

0 43 24 

0 47 32 

0 51 27 

0 39 26 

0 43 49 

0 47 59 

0 5157 

0 39 50 

0 44 14 

0 48 27 

0 52 27 

0 40 15 

0 44 42 

0 48 57 

0 53 oo 

-32 

-36 

-39 

-42 

-35 

-39 

-43 

-46 

3 00 

3 15 

3 30 

3 45 

0 5212 

0 55 29 

0 58 31 

10118 

0 52 33 

0 55 51 

0 58 55 

10143 

0 52 56 

0 5615 

0 59 20 

1 02 09 

0 53 20 

0 56 41 

0 59 47 

1 02 37 

0 53 45 

0 57 08 

10015 

103 07 

0 5412 

0 57 36 

100 45 

103 38 

0 54 40 

0 58 06 

1 01 16 

1 04 11 

0 55 10 

0 58 37 
i or 49 

1 64 46 

0 55 4 i 

0 59 10 

1 02 24 

1 05 22 

0 56 14 

0 59 45 

1 03 01 

1 06 00 

0 56 48 

1 00 22 

1 03 40 

1 06 41 

-45 

-48 

- 5 i 

-53 

-50 

-58 

4 00 

4 15 

4 3 ° 

4 45 

1 °3 49 

106 04 

108 02 

109 42 

10415 

106 31 

108 29 

11010 

104 43 

106 59 

108 58 

110 39 

I 05 12 

I 07 29 

I 09 29 

I II 10 

105 42 

108 01 

110 01 

11144 

10615 

108 34 

110 35 

11219 

i 06 49 

1 09 09 

1 11 12 

1 12 55 

107 25 

109 46 

11150 

113 34 

108 02 

110 25 

112 30 

11415 

1 08 42 

1 11 06 

I 13 I 2 

I 14 58 

1 09 24 

1 11 49 

1 13 56 

1 15 44 

-55 

-57 

~$9 

—61 

—61 

-<?3 

-64 

-66 

5 00 

5 15 

5 3 ° 

5 45 

11103 

112 07 

112 52 

113 is 

11132 

112 36 

I 13 21 
i 13 47 

112 02 

113 06 

1 13 5 i 

1 14 18 

1 12 34 

1 13 38 

1 14 24 

1 14 50 

113 °7 

11412 

114 58 

115 25 

113 43 

114 48 

115 34 

116 01 

114 20 

115 26 

11613 

116 39 

115 00 

116 06 

116 53 

11719 

115 41 

116 48 

117 35 

118 02 

I l6 25 

I 17 32 

I l8 20 

I 18 47 

I 17 II 

I 18 19 

I 19 07 

i 19 34 

— 62 
— 62 
“63 
-63 

-68 

-69 

-69 

-69 

6 00 

6 15 

6 30 

6 45 

113 26 

11314 

112 44 

1 n 55 

1 13 54 

1 13 43 

1 13 12 

1 12 23 

1 14 25 

1 14 13 

1 13 42 

1 12 52 

1 14 57 

1 14 45 

1 14 14 

1 13 24 

115 32 

11519 

114 48 

113 57 

116 08 

115 55 

115 23 

114 32 

116 46 

116 33 

116 01 

115 °9 

117 26 

11713 

116 40 

115 48 

118 09 

117 55 

117 22 

116 29 

i 18 53 

1 18 40 

1 18 06 

1 17 12 

119 41 

119 26 

118 52 

117 58 

-64 

-63 

-63 

—62 

-70 

-69 

-68 

-67 

7 00 

7 15 

7 30 

7 45 

110 47 

109 22 

107 39 

105 39 

1 n 15 

1 09 49 

1 08 05 

1 06 04 

1 11 44 

1 10 17 

1 08 32 

1 06 30 

1 12 15 

1 10 47 

1 09 02 

1 06 59 

112 47 

11119 

109 33 

107 28 

113 22 

11153 

110 05 

108 00 

113 58 

112 28 

110 40 

108 33 

114 36 

113 05 

11116 

109 08 

11516 

113 45 

11154 

1 09 46 

1 15 59 

1 14 26 

1 12 35 

1 10 24 

116 44 

11510 

11317 

11106 

— 6l 

— 60 
-58 
-56 

-66 

-<? 5 

-64 

—62 

8 00 

8 15 

8 30 

8 45 

1 03 22 

1 00 49 

0 58 00 

0 54 57 

1 03 46 

1 01 11 

0 58 22 

0 55 17 

1 04 11 

1 01 36 

0 58 45 

0 55 40 

1 04 38 

I 02 02 

0 59 10 
0 56 03 

105 07 

102 30 

0 59 36 

0 50 28 

105 38 

102 59 

1 00 04 

0 56 54 

10610 

103 29 

100 33 

0 57 22 

106 43 

1 04 02 

1 01 04 

0 57 51 

10719 

104 36 

10136 
0 58 21 

1 °7 57 

1 05 12 

1 02 10 

0 58 53 

108 36 

1 °5 49 

102 46 
0 59 27 

-55 

-53 

-50 

-48 

—60 

-57 

-54 

- 5 i 

9 00 

9 15 

9 30 

9 45 

0 5140 
0 48 09 
0 44 27 

0 4 ° 33 

0 51 59 

0 48 27 

0 44 43 

0 40 48 

O 52 20 

O 48 46 

0 45 01 

0 41 04 

0 52 41 

0 49 07 
0 45 20 
0 41 21 

0 53 04 

0 49 28 

0 45 40 
0 4139 

0 53 29 

0 49 51 

0 46 01 

0 4158 

0 53 55 

0 5 ° 15 

0 46 22 

0 4219 

0 54 22 
0 50 40 
0 46 46 
0 42 40 

0 54 51 

0 5107 

0 47 n 

0 43 02 

0 55 21 

0 51 35 
0 47 37 

0 43 26 

0 55 53 

0 52 05 
0 48 04 

0 43 51 

-45 

-42 

-38 

-35 

-48 

-45 

-42 

-38 

10 00 

10 15 

10 30 
to 45 

0 36 29 
0 3210 

0 27 55 

0 23 27 

0 3 6 43 
0 32 28 
0 28 05 

0 23 35 

0 3 6 57 

0 32 41 

0 28 16 
0 23 44 

0 37 12 
0 32 54 
0 28 28 
0 23 54 

0 37 29 
0 33 08 
0 28 40 
0 24 05 

0 37 46 

0 33 24 

0 28 53 

0 2416 

0 38 04 
0 33 40 
0 29 07 
0 24 27 

0 38 23 
0 33 57 

0 29 22 
0 24 39 

0 38 43 
.0 34 14 

0 29 37 

0 24 52 

0 39 04 

0 34 34 
0 29 53 

0 25 06 

0 39 2 7 
0 34 53 
0 30 10 
0 25 20 

- 3 i 

-28 

-24 

—20 

-34 
-30 
— 26 
—22 

11 00 

11 15 

11 3° 
n 45 

018 52 

01413 

0 09 31 

0 04 46 

0 18 59 

0 14 19 
0 09 34 

0 04 48 

O 19 07 

0 14 24 

0 09 38 
0 04 50 

0 19 15 
0 14 30 

0 09 42 
0 04 52 

019 23 
014 37 

0 09 46 
0 04 54 

019 32 

014 43 

0 09 51 

0 04 56 

019 41 

014 50 
0 09 56 
0 04 58 

0 19 51 

0 14 58 
0 10 01 

0 05 00 

0 20 01 

015 05 

010 06 

0 05 03 

O 20 12 

O 15 14 

0 IO II 

0 05 06 

0 20 24 
0 15 22 
0 10 17 
0 05 09 

— l6 

— 12 
- 8 
~ 4 

-18 

-13 

- 9 

- 4 

Elongation: 

Azimuth 

113 26 

1 13 55 

I 14 25 

1 14 58 

115 32 

116 08 

# 

116 46 

117 27 

118 09 

I 18 54 

119 41 

-64 

-69 

Hour angle 

h in s 

5 58 19 

h m s 

5 58 14 

h in s 

5 58 °8 

h 111 s 

5 58 03 

h m s 

5 57 57 

h tn s 

5 57 51 

h in s 

5 57 45 

h in s 

5 57 39 

h m s 

5 57 33 

h m s 

5 57 27 

h m s 

5 57 21 

4 - 2 

+ 2 







































90 


PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE) EARTH’S MAGNETISM 


Table IX .—Azimuth of Polaris at any hour angle —Continued. 


Hour angle 
before or 
after upper 
culmina- 



Azimuth of Polaris computed for declination 88° 31' 



Correc¬ 
tion for 1' 
increase 
in decli¬ 
nation of 
Polaris 

tion 

Eati- 

Lati- 

Eati- 

Eati- ^ 

Eati- 

Eati- 

Lati- 

L,ati- 

Eati- 

Eati- 

Eati- 

Lati¬ 

tude 

3 °° 

Eati- 

ude 

40° 


tude 30 0 

tude 31 0 

tude 32 0 

tude 33 0 

tude 34 0 

tude 35 0 

tude 36° 

tude 37 0 

tude 38° 

tude 39 0 

tude 40 0 

h in 

Off/ 

Off/ 

Of// 

O / ft 

0 • V 

0/// 

Off/ 

Off/ 

O ' tf 

Off/ 

O / If 

If 

ft 

o 15 

0 05 17 

0 05 20 

0 05 23 

0 05 27 

0 05 31 

0 05 35 

0 05 40 

0 05 44 

0 05 49 

0 05 54 

0 06 00 

- 5 

- 5 

0 30 

0 10 31 

0 10 38 

0 10 45 

0 10 53 

0 II 01 

0 II 09 

0 11 18 

O II 27 

0 11 37 

0 11 47 

0 n 57 

- 9 

— 10 

0 45 

0 15 44 

0 15 54 

0 16 04 

0 16 16 

0 16 27 

0 16 40 

0 16 53 

0 17 07 

O 17 21 

0 17 36 

0 17 52 

-14 

— 16 

I OO 

O 20 51 

0 21 05 

0 21 19 

0 21 34 

0 21 50 

0 22 06 

0 22 24 

0 22 42 

0 23 OI 

O 23 21 

0 23 42 

-18 

— 21 

1 15 

0 25 54 

0 26 11 

0 26 28 

0 26 47 

0 27 06 

0 27 27 

0 27 48 

0 28 11 

0 28 34 

0 28 59 

0 29 26 

-23 

— 26 

1 30 

0 30 49 

0 31 09 

0 31 30 

0 31 52 

0 32 15 

0 32 40 

0 33 °5 

0 33 32 

0 34 00 

0 34 3° 

0 35 01 

-27 

-31 

1 45 

0 35 37 

0 36 00 

0 36 24 

0 36 49 

0 37 16 

0 37 44 

0 38 14 

0 38 44 

0 39 17 

0 39 51 

0 40 27 

-31 

-36 

2 OO 

0 40 15 

O 40 41 

0 41 08 

0 4 i 37 

O 42 07 

0 42 38 

0 43 12 

0 43 47 

0 44 23 

0 45 02 

0 45 42 

-35 

-40 

2 15 

0 44 42 

0 45 n 

0 45 41 

0 46 13 

0 46 46 

0 47 21 

0 47 58 

0 48 37 

0 49 18 

O 50 OO 

0 50 45 

-39 

-45 

2 30 

0 48 57 

0 49 29 

O 50 02 

0 5 ° 37 

0 51 13 

0 5152 

0 52 32 

0 53 14 

0 53 59 

0 54 46 

0 55 35 

-43 

-49 

2 45 

0 53 00 

0 53 34 

0 54 10 

0 54 47 

0 55 27 

0 56 08 

0 56 52 

0 57 37 

0 58 25 

0 59 16 

I OO 09 

-46 

-53 

3 00 

0 56 48 

0 57 25 

0 58 03 

0 58 43 

0 59 2 5 

1 00 10 

1 00 56 

1 01 45 

1 02 37 

i 03 31 

1 04 28 

-50 

-57 

3 15 

I OO 22 

I OI OI 

i 01 41 

I 02 24 

1 03 08 

1 °3 55 

1 04 45 

1 05 37 

1 06 31 

I 07 29 

1 08 29 

-53 

— 60 

3 3 ° 

1 03 40 

I 04 20 

1 05 03 

1 05 48 

1 06 35 

107 24 

1 08 16 

I 09 II 

1 10 08 

I II 09 

I 12 12 

-58 

-63 

3 45 

1 06 41 

1 07 23 

1 08 08 

1 08 54 

1 09 44 

110 35 

1 11 3 ° 

I 12 27 

1 13 27 

1 14 30 

1 15 36 

- 5 « 

-66 

4 00 

I 09 24 

1 10 08 

1 10 54 

1 n 43 

1 12 34 

113 28 

1 14 24 

1 15 23 

1 16 26 

1 17 31 

1 18 40 

— 6l 

-69 

415 

1 11 49 

1 12 35 

1 13 23 

1 14 13 

1 15 06 

116 01 

1 16 59 

1 18 00 

1 19 05 

I 20 12 

1 2123 

-63 

-72 

4 3° 

1 13 56 

1 14 43 

1 15 32 

1 16 23 

1 17 18 

11814 

1 19 14 

1 20 17 

I 21 23 

I 22 32 

1 23 45 

-64 

-74 

4 45 

1 15 44 

1 16 31 

I 17 21 

1 18 14 

I 19 09 

1 20 07 

1 21 08 

I 22 12 

I 23 20 

1 24 31 

1 25 45 

—66 

-75 

5 00 

I 17 II 

1 18 00 

1 18 51 

1 19 44 

I 20 40 

12139 

I 22 41 

1 23 46 

1 24 55 

1 26 07 

1 27 23 

-68 

-76 

515 

1 18 19 

1 19 08 

1 19 59 

1 20 54 

1 21 50 

1 22 50 

123 53 

1 24 59 

1 26 08 

1 27 21 

1 28 38 

-69 

-77 

5 30 

I 19 07 

1 19 56 

1 20 48 

I 21 42 

I 22 40 

123 40 

1 24 43 

1 25 49 

1 26 59 

1 28 12 

1 29 30 

-69 

-78 

5 45 

1 19 34 

I 20 23 

1 21 15 

I 22 10 

1 23 07 

124 08 

125 n 

1 26 17 

I 27 27 

128 41 

129 58 

-69 

-78 

6 00 

1 19 41 

I 20 30 

I 21 22 

1 22 16 

1 23 13 

12414 

1 25 17 

1 26 23 

1 27 33 

1 28 47 

1 30 04 

-70 

-78 

6 15 

1 19 26 

1 20 15 

I 21 07 

I 22 OI 

1 22 58 

123 58 

1 25 01 

1 26 07 

I 27 17 

128 30 

1 29 46 

-69 

-78 

6 30 

1 18 52 

1 19 41 

I 20 32 

1 21 26 

I 22 22 

1 23 21 

I 24 24 

1 25 29 

1 26 38 

1 27 50 

129 06 

-68 

-77 

6 45 

1 17 58 

1 18 46 

1 19 36 

I 20 29 

1 21 25 

1 22 23 

123 24 

I 24 29 

1 25 37 

126 48 

1 28 03 

-67 

-76 

7 00 

1 16 44 

1 17 31 

1 18 20 

I 19 12 

1 20 06 

1 21 04 

I 22 04 

1 23 07 

1 24 14 

1 25 24 

126 37 

-66 

-75 

715 

1 15 10 

1 15 56 

1 16 44 

1 17 35 

1 18 28 

119 24 

I 20 23 

1 21 25 

I 22 30 

1 23 38 

1 24 50 

-65 

-73 

7 30 

I 13 17 

I 14 02 

1 14 49 

1 15 38 

1 16 30 

117 24 

1 18 21 

1 19 21 

I 20 25 

1 2131 

I 22 41 

-64 

-72 

7 45 

1 11 06 

1 11 49 

1 12 34 

1 13 22 

I 14 12 

115 °5 

1 16 00 

1 16 58 

1 17 59 

I 19 04 

I 20 II 

—62 

-69 

8 00 

1 08 36 

1 09 18 

I 10 OI 

1 10 47 

1 11 36 

112 26 

1 13 20 

1 14 16 

1 15 14 

1 16 16 

I 17 21 

— 60 

-66 

0 15 

1 05 49 

1 06 29 

I 07 II 

1 07 55 

1 08 41 

109 30 

I 10 21 

1 11 14 

I 12 II 

1 1310 

I 14 12 

-57 

-64 

8 30 

1 02 46 

1 03 24 

I 04 04 

I 04 46 

1 05 29 

10616 

I 07 04 

1 °7 55 

1 08 49 

1 09 45 

i 10 44 

-54 

— 6l 

8 45 

0 59 2 7 

I OO 03 

I 00 40 

I OI 20 

I 02 OI 

102 45 

1 03 31 

I 04 19 

1 05 10 

1 06 03 

1 06 59 

- 5 i 

-58 

9 00 

0 55 53 

0 56 26 

0 57 02 

0 57 39 

0 58 18 

0 58 59 

0 59 43 

I OO 27 

i 01 14 

I 02 04 

1 02 57 

-48 

-54 

915 

0 52 05 

0 52 36 

0 53 09 

0 53 43 

0 54 20 

0 54 58 

0 55 38 

0 56 20 

0 57 °4 

0 57 5° 

0 58 39 

-45 

- 5 ° 

9 3 ° 

0 48 04 

0 48 33 

0 49 03 

0 49 35 

0 50 08 

0 50 43 

O 51 20 

0 51 58 

0 52 39 

0 53 22 

0 54 07 

-42 

—46 

9 45 

0 43 5 i 

0 44 17 

0 44 44 

0 45 13 

0 45 44 

0 4616 

0 46 49 

0 47 24 

0 48 01 

0 48 40 

O 49 21 

-38 

-42 

10 00 

0 39 27 

0 39 50 

0 40 15 

O 40 41 

0 41 oS 

0 4137 

O 42 07 

0 42 39 

0 43 12 

0 43 47 

0 44 24 

-34 

-38 

1015 

O 34 53 

0 35 14 

0 35 35 

0 35 58 

0 36 22 

0 36 48 

0 37 14 

0 37 42 

0 38 12 

0 38 43 

0 39 15 

- 3 ° 

-34 

10 30 

0 30 10 

0 30 28 

0 3 ° 47 

0 31 07 

0 31 28 

0 3150 

O 32 12 

0 32 37 

0 33 02 

0 33 29 

0 33 57 

- 26 

— 29 

10 45 

0 25 20 

0 25 35 

0 25 51 

0 26 08 

0 26 25 

0 26 43 

0 27 03 

0 27 23 

0 27 44 

0 28 07 

0 28 30 

— 22 

-24 

11 00 

O 20 24 

0 20 36 

0 20 49 

0 21 02 

0 21 16 

0 21 31 

0 21 46 

0 22 O3 

0 22 20 

0 22 38 

0 22 57 

-18 

— 20 

1115 

O 15 22 

0 15 3 ' 

0 15 41 

0 15 51 

0 16 02 

01613 

0 16 24 

0 16 37 

0 16 50 

0 17 03 

0 17 17 

-13 

—15 

11 3° 

0 10 17 

0 10 23 

0 10 29 

0 10 36 

0 10 43 

010 51 

0 10 58 

0 ii 07 

0 n 15 

0 ii 24 

0 11 34 

— 9 

— IO 

n 45 

0 05 09 

0 05 12 

0 05 15 

0 0519 

0 05 22 

0 05 26 

0 05 30 

0 05 34 

0 05 38 

0 05 43 

0 °5 47 

- 4 

- 5 

Elongation 














Azimuth. 

1 19 41 

I 20 30 

I 21 22 

I 22 17 

1 23 14 

\ 2414 

125 18 

1 26 24 

1 27 34 

1 28 48 

1 30 °5 

-69 

-78 

Hour angle 

k m s 

h in s 

h 111 s 

h m s 

h in s 

h in s 

h in s 

h in s 

h in s 

h in s 

k in s 

$ 



5 57 21 

5 57 14 

5 57 08 

5 57 01 

5 56 54 

5 56 47 

5 56 39 

5 56 32 

5 56 24 

5 56 16 

5 56 08 

+ 2 

+ 3 







































TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 
Table IX .—Azimuth of Polaris at any hour angle —Continued. 


91 


Hour angle 
before or 
after upper 
culmina- 



Azimuth of Polaris computed for declination 88° 51' 



Correc¬ 
tion for i' 
increase 
in decli¬ 
nation of 
Polaris 

tion 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati- 

• 

Lati- 1 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati- 

Lati¬ 

tude 

40° 

Lati¬ 

tude 

5 °° 


tude 40 0 

tude 41 0 

tude 42 0 

tude 43 0 

tude 44 0 

tude 45 0 

tude 46° 

tude 47 0 

tude 48° 

tude 49 0 

tude 50 0 

h m 

0 / n 

0 • n 

O / // 

or// 

0 t n 

Or// 

or// 

O t It 

0 / tr 

0 r rr 

or// 

// 

n 

0 15 

0 06 00 

0 06 05 

0 06 11 

0 0617 

0 06 24 

0 06 31 

0 06 38 

0 06 46 

0 06 54 

0 07 03 

O 07 12 

- 5 

- 6 

0 30 

01157 

0 12 09 

0 12 21 

012 33 

012 46 

O 13 OO 

0 1314 

0 13 30 

0 13 46 

014 03 

O 14 21 

— IO 

-13 

0 45 

017 52 

018 09 

0 18 27 

018 45 

019 05 

0 19 25 

019 47 

O 20 IO 

0 20 34 

0 21 00 

O 21 gn 

—16 

-19 

I OO 

0 23 42 

0 24 04 

0 24 28 

0 24 52 

0 2518 

0 25 45 

0 2614 

0 26 45 

0 27 17 

0 27 51 

0 28 27 

— 21 

-25 

1 15 

0 29 26 

0 29 53 

O 30 22 

0 30 53 

0 31 25 

0 31 59 

0 32 34 

0 33 12 

0 33 52 

0 34 34 

0 35 18 

— 26 

-32 

l 3 ° 

0 35 01 

0 35 34 

0 36 08 

0 36 45 

0 37 23 

0 38 03 

0 38 46 

0 39 30 

O 40 l8 

0 41 08 

0 42 01 

-31 

-38 

1 45 

0 40 27 

0 4105 

0 41 45 

0 42 27 

0 43 11 

0 43 57 

0 44 46 

0 45 38 

0 46 33 

0 47 3 ° 

0 48 31 

-38 

-43 

2 OO 

0 45 42 

0 46 25 

0 47 10 

0 47 57 

0 48 47 

0 49 39 

0 50 35 

0 5 i 33 

0 52 35 

0 53 40 

O 54 49 

-40 

-49 

2 15 

0 50 45 

0 5133 

0 52 22 

0 53 15 

0 54 10 

0 55 08 

0 56 09 

0 57 14 

0 58 22 

0 59 35 

1 00 51 

-45 

-54 

2 30 

0 55 35 

0 56 26 

0 57 21 

0 58 18 

0 59 18 

I OO 22 

1 01 29 

I 02 40 

1 03 54 

1 °5 13 

1 06 37 

-49 

-59 

2 45 

1 00 09 

10105 

1 02 04 

1 03 06 

I 04 II 

I 05 20 

I 06 32 

1 07 48 

I 09 09 

1 10 34 

I 12 04 

-53 

-64 

3 00 

104 28 

105 28 

106 30 

1 07 36 

1 08 46 

I 10 00 

I II 17 

1 12 39 

1 14 05 

1 15 36 

I 17 12 

-57 

-68 

3 15 

108 29 

109 32 

110 39 

1 11 49 

1 13 03 

I 14 21 

I 15 43 

i 17 IO 

1 18 41 

1 20 18 

I 22 OO 

— 60 

-72 

3 3 ° 

1 12 12 

1 

114 29 

i 15 43 

1 19 16 

I 17 OO 

1 18 22 

1 19 49 

I 21 20 

1 22 56 

1 24 37 

1 26 25 

-63 

-76 

3 45 

115 36 

I l6 46 

117 59 

1 20 37 

I 22 03 

1 23 33 

1 25 08 

1 26 49 

1 28 35 

1 30 27 

-66 

-80 

4 00 

1 is 40 

1 19 52 

12108 

122 28 

1 23 53 

1 25 21 

1 26 54 

1 28 34 

130 18 

1 32 08 

1 34 °5 

-69 

, -83 

415 

1 21 23 

1 22 38 

123 56 

12519 

I 20 46 

1 28 17 

1 29 54 

1 31 33 

133 24 

1 35 17 

1 37 17 

-72 

-86 

4 30 

123 45 

I 25 02 

126 22 

127 47 

1 29 16 

1 3 ° 5 ° 

1 32 3 ° 

1 34 14 

136 06 

1 38 01 

I 40 04 

-74 

-88 

4 45 

125 45 

1 27 03 

128 26 

129 52 

1 31 23 

1 32 59 

1 34 4 i 

1 36 28 

1 38 20 

I 40 19 

1 42 25 

-75 

-90 

5 OO 

127 23 

1 28 42 

130 06 

13134 

1 33 06 

1 34 44 

1 36 27 

1 38 16 

I 40 IO 

I 42 II 

1 44 19 

-76 

-91 

5 15 

128 38 

1 29 58 

13123 

132 52 

1 34 25 

1 38 04 

1 37 48 

1 39 38 

I 41 34 

1 43 36 

1 45 45 

-77 

-92 

5 3 ° 

129 30 

1 30 50 

13216 

133 45 

1 35 20 

1 36 59 

1 38 44 

1 40 34 

1 42 31 

1 44 34 

1 46 44 

-78 

-93 

5 45 

129 58 

1 31 20 

132 45 

13415 

1 35 5 ° 

1 37 29 

1 39 14 

1 41 05 

1 43 02 

1 45 05 

1 47 16 

-78 

-94 

6 00 

130 04 

1 31 25 

132 50 

134 20 

1 35 55 

1 37 34 

1 39 19 

I 41 09 

1 43 06 

1 45 09 

1 47 19 

-78 

-93 

6 15 

129 46 

1 31 07 

132 32 

134 01 

1 35 35 

1 37 14 

1 38 58 

1 40 48 

1 42 44 

1 44 46 

1 46 56 

-78 

-93 

6 30 

129 06 

1 30 26 

13150 

13318 

1 34 51 

1 36 29 

1 38 12 

i 40 01 

1 41 56 

1 43 57 

1 46 04 

-77 

-92 

6 45 

128 03 

I 29 20 

1 3 ° 44 

13211 

1 33 43 

1 35 19 

1 37 01 

1 38 48 

I 40 41 

I 42 40 

1 44 46 

-76 

-91 

7 00 

126 37 

1 27 54 

12915 

130 41 

1 32 n 

1 33 45 

1 35 25 

1 37 10 

1 39 01 

1 4 ° 58 

1 43 02 

"“75 

-89 

7 *5 

124 50 

1 26 05 

127 24 

I 23 48 

1 30 16 

1 31 48 

1 33 25 

1 35 08 

1 36 56 

1 38 51 

1 40 51 

-73 

-87 

7 30 

1 22 41 

1 23 54 

12511 

I 26 32 

1 27 58 

I 29 27 

1 31 02 

1 32 42 

1 34 27 

1 36 18 

1 38 16 

-72 

-85 

7 45 

1 20 11 

I 21 22 

122 36 

I 23 55 

1 25 17 

1 26 44 

1 28 16 

1 29 52 

1 3 i 34 

1 33 22 

1 35 15 

-69 

-82 

8 00 

1 17 21 

1 18 29 

119 41 

1 20 57 

1 22 16 

1 23 40 

1 25 08 

1 26 41 

1 28 19 

I 30 02 

1 3 i 5 i 

-66 

-79 

8 15 

1 14 12 

1 15 17 

116 26 

1 17 38 

1 18 54 

I 20 14 

1 21 39 

1 23 07 

1 24 41 

1 26 20 

1 28 05 

-64 

-7b 

8 30 

1 10 44 

1 11 46 

112 52 

I 14 OO 

1 15 12 

1 16 29 

1 17 49 

1 19 14 

1 20 43 

I 22 17 

1 23 56 

— 6l 

- 72 

8 45 

106 59 

1 07 57 

108 59 

I 10 04 

I II 12 

I 12 23 

1 13 40 

1 15 00 

1 16 24 

1 17 53 

1 19 27 

-58 

-68 

9 00 

102 57 

1 03 52 

104 50 

I 05 50 

1 06 55 

1 08 02 

1 09 13 

1 10 28, 

1 11 47 

1 13 io 

1 14 38 

—54 

-64 

915 

0 58 39 

0 59 30 

1 00 24 

I 01 21 

I 02 20 

1 03 23 

I 04 29 

1 °5 39 

1 06 52 

1 08 10 

1 09 32 

- 5 ° 

-59 

9 3 ° 

0 54 07 

0 54 54 

0 55 44 

0 56 36 

0 57 31 

0 58 28 

0 59 29 

1 00 34 

I 01 41 

1 02 53 

1 04 08 

-46 

-55 

9 45 

0 49 21 

0 50 04 

0 50 49 

0 51 37 

0 52 27 

0 53 20 

0 54 15 

0 55 13 

0 56 15 

0 57 20 

0 58 29 

-42 

-50 

IO OO 

0 44 24 

0 45 02 

0 45 43 

0 46 25 

0 47 10 

0 47 58 

0 48 47 

0 49 40 

O 50 35 

° 51 34 

0 52 35 

-38 

-45 

10 15 

0 3915 

0 39 49 

0 4° 25 

0 41 03 

O 41 42 

O 42 24 

0 43 °8 

0 43 54 

0 44 43 

0 45 35 

0 46 29 

-34 

-40 

10 30 

0 33 57 

0 34 26 

0 34 57 

0 35 30 

0 36 04 

0 36 40 

0 37 18 

0 37 58 

0 38 40 

0 39 24 

O 40 12 

-29 

-34 

10 45 

0 28 30 

0 28 55 

0 29 21 

0 29 48 

0 30 17 

0 30 47 

0 31 19 

0 3153 

0 32 28 

0 33 05 

° 33 45 

-24 

-29 

II OO 

0 22 57 

0 23 16 

0 23 37 

0 23 59 

O 24 22 

0 24 47 

O 25 12 

0 25 39 

0 26 08 

0 26 38 

O 27 09 

— 20 

-23 

ii 15 

0 17 17 

0 17 32 

017 48 

0 iS 05 

0 18 22 

0 18 40 

O I9 OO 

0 19 20 

O 19 42 

O 20 04 

0 20 28 

—15 

—18 

11 30 

01134 

0 ii 44 

01154 

0 12 06 

O 12 17 

O 12 29 

O 12 42 

012 56 

0 13 10 

0 13 25 

0 13 43 

— IO 

— 12 

11 45 

0 05 47 

0 05 52 

0 05 58 

0 06 04 

0 06 09 

0 06 15 

0 06 22 

0 06 29 

0 06 36 

0 06 44 

0 06 51 

- 5 

- 6 

Elongation 

Azimuth 

1 3 ° 05 

1 3126 

132 51 

1 34 21 

1 35 56 

1 37 35 

1 39 20 

1 41 11 

1 43 08 

1 45 n 

1 47 21 

-78 

-93 


h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

h m s 

s 

s 

Hour angle 

5 56 08 

5 56 00 

5 55 5 i 

5 55 43 

5 55 33 

5 55 24 

5 55 14 

5 55 °4 

5 54 53 

5 54 42 

5 54 31 

+ 3 

+ 3 











































PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


92 

Determination of the True Meridian and Local Mean Time by Means of 

Observations on the Sun. 

The following method is the one usually employed to determine the true meridian 
in connection with the magnetic observations of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. It 
involves more computing than those already described, but is more convenient in that 
it is available for use during daylight when the magnetic observations are in progress. 
In connection with the time signals sent out by telegraph from observatories it 
furnishes the means also of determining approximately the longitude of the place of 
observation. It requires a theodolite with graduated vertical circle and a prismatic 
eyepiece for observing the Sun, and a well-regulated timepiece. The observations at 
a place usually consist of four independent sets of observations, two in the morning 
and two m the afternoon, each set consisting of four pointings on the Sun and two 
pointings on a reference mark symmetrically arranged as in the following example. 
For each pointing on the Sun the time is noted, and both horizontal and vertical circles 
are read. Observations are made from two to four hours from noon, and at nearly the 
same altitudes morning and afternoon. The reference mark should be a well-defined 
object nearly in the horizon and at least 100 yards distant. 

The instrument (see Figure 28) used in the following observations has a glass 
diaphragm on which is ruled one horizontal and one vertical line. The symbols in the 
first column indicate the limbs of the Sun which were brought tangent to the lines of 
the diaphragm at the recorded time. The vertical circle is so graduated that it gives 
altitudes in one position and zenith distances in the other. The readings in the latter 
case have been subtracted from 90° when filling in the last column. The verniers allow 
readings on the horizontal and on the vertical circle to be made to minutes, half minutes 
being estimated. 

A. M. observatiotis of Sim for azimuth and time. 


Station, Paducah, Ky. Date, Tuesday, July 2, 1901. 

Theodolite of Mag’r No. 19. Observer, W. W. 

Chronometer, Bond No. 175. Temperature, 32 0 . 2. 


Sun’s 

limb 

v. c. 

Chronometer 

time 

-1- 

Horizontal circle 

Vertical circle 

A 

B 

Mean 

A 

B 

Mean 


R 

Mark 

O / 

352 39-5 

/ 

37-5 

O / 

352 38. 5 





D 


172 37.0 

36.0 

36.5 






h m s 




0 / 

/ 

O / 

£t 

L 

9 35 15 

291 41. 0 

39-5 

hi 40. 2 

44 i7-o 

18. 0 

44 17-50 

<2! 

L 

36 10 

291 49-5 

48.5 

hi 49. 0 

44 29.0 

29.0 

44 29. 00 


R 

37 4o 

112 47. 0 

44.0 

112 45.5 

44 48.0 

49- 5 

45 ir- 25 

0 

R 

33 47 

112 57.0 

56.0 

112 56.5 

44 35-o 

36.5 

45 24. 25 

Means 

9 36 58-0 



112 17.8 



44 50-50 







Refr. and Par. 

—0. 78 

P 

R 

9 39 46 

113 07.0 

05.5 

113 06. 2 

44 23.0 

25-0 

45 36.00 

P 

R 

40 49 

113 16.0 

18.0 

113 17.0 

44 10.5 

12. 0 

45 48. 75 

0 

D 

42 20 

292 50. 0 

48. 0 

112 49. 0 

45 4i. 5 

42. 0 

45 4 X - 75 

<21 

L 

43 24 

292 60. 0 

58.5 

112 59. 2 

45 54-0 

55-o 

45 54-50 

Means 

9 4i 34- 3 



113 02. 8 



45 45- 25 







Refr. and Par. 

- .76 


D 

Mark 

172 38. 0 

37-5 

352 37-3 





R 


352 40-0 

38.0 

39- 0 









352 37-9 































true meridian and magnetic declination. 


93 


P. M. observations of Sun for azimuth and time. 


Station, Paducah, Ky. Date, Tuesday, July 2, 1901. 

Theodolite of Mag’r No. 19. Observer, W. W. 

Chronometer, Bond No. 175. Temperature, 36. °8. 


Sun’s 

limb 

v.c. 

Chronometer 

time 

Horizontal circle 

Vertical circle 

A 

B 

Mean 

A 

B 

Mean 


T» 

XV 

Mark 

O / 

112 20. 5 

19. O 

0 / 

112 19.8 





L 


292 20.5 

19. O 

19. 8 






h m s 




G / 

/ 

O f 

Q 

L 

4 21 28 

226 01.0 

OI. O 

46 01. 0 

44 13-5 

14. 0 

44 13-75 

Q 

L 

22 26 

226 10.0 

II. O 

46 10.5 

44 02. 0 

03.0 

44 02. 50 

£3 

R 

23 45 

45 32.0 

35-0 

45 33 - 5 

45 49 -o 

47.0 

44 12.00 

0 

R 

25 04 

45 45-0 

48. 0 

45 46.5 

46 03.0 

04-5 

43 56 . 25 

Means 

4 23 10.8 



45 52.9 



44 06. 12 







Refr. and Par. 

-•79 

0 

R 

4 34 24 

47 17-0 

14-5 

47 15-8 

47 53-0 

56.0 

42 05. 50 

0 

R 

35 36 

47 25.0 

27. 0 

47 26. 0 

48 07. 5 

10. 0 

4 i 5 1 - 25 

0 

L 

37 12 

228 28. 0 

26. 0 

48 27. 0 

41 07. 0 

08. 0 

41 07.50 

0 

L 

38 19 

228 38. 0 

37-5 

48 37 - 8 

40 53 - 0 

53-5 

40 53 - 25 

Means 

4 36 22.8 



47 56.6 



41 29.38 







Refr. and Par. 

-.89 


L 

Mark 

292 21. 0 

19-5 

112 20. 2 





R 


112 21.0 

19-5 

20. 2 









112 20. 0 





For computing these observations one requires a five-place table of logarithms of 
trigonometric functions and the American Ephemeris, or U. S. Hydrographic Office 
Publication No. 118, which gives the Sun’s apparent declination and the equation of 
time. For correcting the observed altitude of the Sun for parallax and refraction, the 
following convenient table has been prepared, giving the combined correction for differ¬ 
ent altitudes and temperatures, to be subtracted from the observed altitude: 

Table X. — Correction to observed altitude of the Sun for refraction and parallax. 


App’t 

Temperature 

App’t 

Alt. 



. 








Alt. 


— io° C. 

— 5° C. 

o° C. 

+5°C. 

+ io° C. 

+ 15° C. 

4-20° C. 

+25 0 C. 

+30° C. 

+35° C. 


0 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

O 

10 

5-52 

5- 42 

5- 30 

5. 20 

5- 10 

5.00 

4.92 

4- 83 

4- 75 

4. 67 

10 

11 

5. 02 

4. 92 

4. 82 

4- 73 

4- 63 

4- 55 

4- 47 

4- 38 

4-32 

4- 23 

11 

12 

4. 60 

4- 50 

4. 42 

4- 33 

4- 25 

4. 17 

4. 10 

4.03 

3- 97 

3.88 

12 

13 

4- 23 

4- 15 

4. 07 

4. 00 

3- 92 

3- 85 

3- 78 

3- 72 

3- 65 

3- 58 

13 

14 

3- 92 

3-83 

3- 77 

3- 7° 

3.62 

3- 55 

3-50 

3- 45 

3- 37 

3- 32 

14 

J 5 

3- 65 

3- 58 

3- 5° 

3- 43 

3- 37 

3-32 

3- 25 

3. 20 

3- 13 

3.08 

15 

16 

3- 4> 

3- 35 

3- 30 

3- 23 

3- 17 

3- 12 

3- 07 

3.00 

2. 95 

2. 90 

16 

17 

3. 22 

3- 15 

3. 10 

3-03 

2. 98 

2. 92 

2.88 

2. 82 

2. 77 

2. 72 

17 

18 

3.02 

2. 95 

2. 90 

2. 85 

2. 80 

2. 75 

2. 70 

2. 65 

2. 60 

2. 55 

18 

19 

2. 83 

2. 78 

2. 73 

2. 6S 

2. 63 

2. 58 

2. 53 

2. 48 

2. 43 

2. 40 

*9 


























































94 PRINCIPAL FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 

Table X .—Correction to observed altitude of the Sun for refraction and parallax —Concl’d. 


App’t 

Temperature. 

App’t 

Ah. 











Alt. 


— io°C. 

—5 °C. 

o° C. 

+ 5 ° C. 

+ io° C. 

+ 15 0 C. 

+ 20° C. 

+25 0 C. 

+ 30 ° C. 

+ 35 ° C. 


0 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

f 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

0 

20 

2.68 

2.63 

2. 58 

2. 53 

2.48 

2.43 

2.38 

2. 33 

2.30 

2. 27 

20 

21 

2. 53 

2.48 

2 .43 

2. 38 

2 .35 

2.30 

2. 27 

2. 22 

2.17 

2. 13 

21 

22 

2.38 

2. 35 

2.30 

2. 25 

2. 22 

2.18 

2. 13 

2. 08 

2.05 

2.02 

22 

23 

2. 28 

2. 25 

2. 20 

2.15 

2. 12 

2.08 

2.03 

1.98 

i -95 

i -93 

23 

24 

2. 17 

2. 13 

2.08 

2.05 

2.02 

1. 98 

i -93 

1.88 

1.87 

1.83 

24 

25 

2.07 

2.03 

1. 98 

95 

1. 92 

1.88 

1.83 

1. 80 

1.77 

1-75 

25 

26 

1.99 

i -95 

1. 90 

1.87 

1.83 

1. 80 

1. 75 

1. 72 

1. 70 

1.67 

26 

27 

1.88 

1.85 

1.82 

1.78 

i- 75 

1. 72 

1.68 

1.63 

1. 62 

1.60 

27 

28 

1.80 

1. 77 

1. 72 

1.70 

1.67 

1.63 

1. 60 

1-57 

i -53 

1-52 

28 

29 

1.72 

1.68 

1.65 

1.63 

1.60 

i -57 

i -53 

1.50 

1.47 

1.46 

29 

30 

1.65 

1.62 

1.58 

i -57 

i -53 

1.50 

1.47 

1.45 

1.42 

1.40 

30 

32 

i -53 

1.50 

1.47 

1-45 

1.42 

1.38 

i -35 

i -33 

1.30 

1.28 

32 

34 

1.41 

i -37 

1-35 

1.32 

1.30 

1.27 

1.23 

1.23 

1. 20 

1.18 

34 

36 

1.30 

1.27 

1-25 

1.22 

1. 20 

1.18 

1.15 

i -13 

1.10 

1.08 

36 

38 

1.20 

1.18 

i -15 

1 .13 

1.12 

1.10 

1.07 

1.05 

1.02 

1.02 

38 

40 

1.11 

1.10 

1.07 

1.05 

1.03 

1.02 

0. 98 

°- 97 

0 .95 

o -93 

40 

42 

1.03 

1.00 

0.98 

0.97 

0-95 

o -93 

0.90 

0.88 

0.87 

0.87 

42 

44 

0.96 

0-93 

0.92 

0.90 

0.88 

0.87 

0.85 

0.83 

0.82 

0.80 

44 

46 

0.89 

0.88 

0.87 

0.85 

0.83 

0.82 

0.80 

0. 78 

0. 77 

0 .75 

46 

48 

0.83 

0.82 

0.80 

0.78 

0.77 

0-75 

0 .73 

0. 72 

0. 70 

0.68 

48 

50 

0. 77 

0. 75 

0 .73 

0. 72 

0.70 

0.68 

0.67 

0.67 

0.65 

0.63 

50 

55 

0.63 

0.62 

0.60 

0.60 

0.58 

0.57 

o .57 

o .55 

o- 53 

0.52 

55 

60 

0.52 

0.52 

0.50 

0.50 

0.48 

0.47 

0.47 

0.45 

o .45 

o .43 

60 

65 

0.42 

0.40 

0.40 

0.40 

0.38 

0.38 

0 .37 

o .37 

o -35 

°- 33 

65 

70 

0.32 

0.32 

0.32 

0.30 

0.30 

0.30 

0. 28 

0.28 

0. 28 

0.27 

70 

75 

0. 23 

0. 23 

0. 23 

0.22 

0. 22 

0.22 

0.20 

0.20 

0.20 

0.18 

75 

80 

0.15 

0.15 

0.13 

0.13 

0.13 

0.13 

0.13 

0. 12 

0.12 

0.12 

80 

85 

0.07 

0.07 

0.07 

0.07 

0.07 

0.07 

0.07 

0.05 

0.05 

0.05 

85 

90 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

O. OO 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

90 


The formulae used in computing the azimuth and local mean time from observations 
of the Sun made in the manner just described are the following: 


ctn 2 ]/ 2 A = 


sin ( s—<p ) sin ( s—h) 
cos s cos (s — p) 


=sec s sec ( s—p ) sin (s—h) sin (s—(p) 


tan y 2 i— 


sin (s — h) sec (s—p) 
ctn y A 


^ 4 =azimuth of Sun, east of south in the morning, west of south in the afternoon. 
<p =latitude of the place. 

h =altitude of the Sun corrected for refraction and parallax in altitude. 
p =Polar distance of the Sun, at the time of observation, taken from the American 
Ephemeris, or H. O. Publication No. 118. 
s=y (h -\-<p -\-p). 

/=Tlie hour angle of the Sun or apparent time of observation expressed in arc. 
By combining the azimuth of the Sun with the angle between the Sun and mark, 
the azimuth of the mark may be obtained. This is counted from o° to 360° from south 

























TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 95 

around by west. When the azimuth of the mark is known the true meridian may be 
laid off at any time by turning off the proper angle. 

The apparent time of observation must be corrected for equation of time (taken 
from the Ephemeris), in order to obtain the local mean time. The following is a 
convenient form of computation: 


Specimen computation of azimuth and longitude. 


Date 

Tuesday, July 2, 1901 


0 f 

0 / 

O / 

O / 

h 

44 49-7 

45 44-5 

44 05.3 

41 28.5 

<P 

37 °3 6 

37 03- 6 

37 03-6 

37 03.6 

P 

66 55-5 

66 55- 5 

66 56. 7 

66 56.8 

2 S 

148 48.8 

149 43.6 

148 05.6 

145 28.9 

S 

74 24.4 

74 5i-8 

74 02.8 

72 44- 4 

s—p 

7 28.9 

7 56.3 

7 06. 1 

5 47-6 

s — h 

29 34- 7 

29 07.3 

29 57-5 

3i 15- 9 

S—(p 

37 20.8 

37 48.2 

36 59-2 

35 40.8 

log sec s 

0.57056 

0. 58316 

0.56090 

0. 52767 

“ sec (s — p) 

0.00371 

0. 00418 

0.00334 

0.00222 

“ sin (.s— h) 

9- 69339 

9.68723 

9. 69842 

9. 71516 

“ sin ( s — <p ) 

9. 78293 

9-78743 

9- 77933 

9.76586 

“ ctn a y z A 

0. 05059 

0.06200 

0. 04199 

0. 01091 

“ ctn A 

0.02530 

0.03100 

0. 02100 

0.00546 


O / 

O / 

0 / 

0 / 

A from South 

86 39.8 

85 54- 8 

87 13-8 

89 16.8 

Circle reads 

112 17.8 

113 02.8 

45 52.9 

47 56.6 

S. Mer. “ 

198 57 • 6 

198 57.6 

318 39-1 

318 39-8 

Mark “ 

352 37- 9 

352 37- 9 

112 20.0 

112 20.0 

Az. of Mark 

153 4o. 3 

153 4o. 3 

153 4o. 9 

153 4o. 2 

Mean 

153 40.4 




log sec ( s-p ) sin(.s-A) 

9. 69710 

9. 69141 

9.70176 

9. 71738 

“ tan l /t t 

9. 67180 

9. 66041 

9. 68076 

9. 71x92 

t in arc 

50° 19' oc/ / 

49 0 io' I2 // 

5I o I3 / 57 ,/ 

54 0 3c/ 32" 

t 

h m s 
—3 21 16.0 

h m s 
—3 16 40.8 

h m s 

3 24 55- 8 

h m s 

3 38 02.1 

E 

3 40- 2 

3 40. 2 

3 43-4 

3 43-5 

Local M. T. 

8 42 24. 2 

8 46 59- 4 

3 28 39. 2 

3 4i 45-6 

Chron. time 

9 36 58.0 

9 4i 34- 8 

4 23 10.8 

4 36 22.8 

At on L. M. T. 

- 54 33- 8 

- 54 35-4 

- 54 31-6 

- 54 37- 2 

At on 75 M. T. 

- 6.8 

- 6.8 

6.9 

6.9 

*r 

A\ 

54 27.0 

54 28.6 

54 24. 7 

54 30- 3 

Mean 

54 27.6 

= 13° 36'. 9 

A= 

88° 36'. 9 

. 







































9 6 


PRINCIPAL/ FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


DETERMINATION OF THE MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 

A.— With an Ordinary Compass or Surveyor’s Transit. 

When the surveyor determines the value of the magnetic declination himself it 
would be well for him to make the observations on several days, if possible, and prob¬ 
ably the best time of the day would be toward evening, about 5 or 6 o’clock. At this 
time the declination reaches, approximately, its mean value for the day and is almost 
stationarj’. (See Tables III and IV.) Between 10 and 11 a. m. the declination also 
reaches its mean value, but it changes more rapidly than at 5 or 6 o’clock in the evening. 
The observations on any one day should extend at least over one-half of an hour, 
preferably an hour, and the readings should be taken every ten minutes. Before each 
reading of the needle it would be well to tap a the glass lightly with the finger or a 
pencil, so as to slightly disturb the needle from the position of rest it may have 
assumed. The accurate time should be noted opposite each reading and a note entered 
in the record book as to date, the weather, and the kind of time the observer’s watch 
was keeping. A brief description of station and of method employed in determining the 
meridian line and declination should be added to the record. 

Of course the instrument should be put in good adjustment and in first-class con¬ 
dition in every respect beforehand, and the readings should be made in such a manner 
as to eliminate any outstanding error of eccentricity, whether due to pivot of needle not 
being exactly over center of graduated circle, or to the needle being bent or the line of 
sight not passing through the zero points of the circle. In addition, it is very desirable 
that the surveyor should have some knowledge as to any constant error his instrument 
may be subject to, due to whatever cause, e. g., imperfect elimination of errors of 
adjustment or to the fact that the metal of the various parts may not be entirely free of 
traces of iron, or that the magnetic axis of the needle may not coincide with its geo¬ 
metric axis, etc. He can determine his constant error by making observations at one of 
the magnetic survey stations, or, better still, compare his instrument with a standard 
magnetometer or transit when opportunity affords. It would not be amiss to determine 
the compass correction before and after the determination of the magnetic declination. 5 

If these precautions are taken it is possible to determine the magnetic declination 
with a good transit with all needful accuracy. With special care results that will com¬ 
pare very favorably with those obtained by more elaborate instruments can be reached. 

B.—With a Magnetometer/ 

Special instruments, termed magnetometers, have been devised for determining 
accurately and expeditiously the magnetic declination and the intensity of the mag¬ 
netic force. The essential feature of all is a cylindrical (or octagonal) bar magnet, 

a Great care must be taken not to produce static electric charges by rubbing the glass plate in any 
manner. Remarkable deflections of the needle can thus be produced. 

& Surveyor’s compasses have been found to differ at times as much as to i° from the readings 
with the Coast and Geodetic Survey magnetometers. 

c For a further description of methods and instruments, the reader is referred to the special paper 
giving directions for measurements in terrestrial magnetism, Appendix 8, Coast and Geodetic Survey 
Report for 1881; a new edition is now in preparation. The present purpose is simply to give a specimen 
of the general method employed without going into gre^t detail. 







FIG. 28—COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY MAGNETOMETER, 



















TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 


97 


suspended by two or three silk fibers and capable of being inverted in its stirrup, 
the magnet taking the place of the magnetic needle in the ordinary surveyor’s compass. 

The fiber suspension avoids the friction incident to the use of a pivot, and by 
making part of the observations with magnet erect and part with magnet inverted it is 
possible to eliminate the error arising from lack of coincidence of the magnetic and 
geometric axes. 

The form of magnetometer w r hich has been in general use by the Coast and Geodetic 
Survey is showm in Fig. 28. It is really a combination of magnetometer and theodolite. 
The latter, shown at the right of the figure, can be quickly mounted in place of the 
magnetometer and is used for determining the true meridian, as explained in the pre¬ 
ceding pages, and the longitude and latitude. The magnetometer is shown in position 
for observing declination, except that one side of the magnet box has been removed to 
show the manner of suspending the magnet. The magnet used in this instrument is an 
octagonal hollow steel bar about 3 inches long and half an inch in diameter. The 
south end is closed by a plane glass on which has been etched a graduated scale divided 
into two minute spaces (o. 1 of a division being estimated), while in the north end is a 
collimating lens so arranged that when the small reading telescope is focused on a dis¬ 
tant object the graduated scale will be in focus also. The magnet is supported in a 
brass stirrup consisting of three rings joined to a shank about an inch long. In the 
upper end of this shank is an eye to which one end of the silk fibers is fastened. 
The other end of the fibers is fastened to a suitable arrangement at the top of the glass 
suspension tube, by means of which the magnet may be raised to the level of the 
observing telescope. Light to illuminate the scale of the magnet is admitted through 
a hole in the south end of the magnet box with the aid of an adjustable mirror, if 
necessary. The north end of the magnet box is connected with the object end of the 
reading telescope by means of a hood of dark cloth, so that no glass comes between the 
objective and the magnet and air currents are excluded by the hood. The wooden 
sides of the magnet box may be removed to permit the necessary manipulation of the 
magnet. The long shank of the stirrup obviates the necessity of having a weight on 
the south end of the magnet to counterbalance the dip of the north end. When not in 
use the magnet is kept in a wooden case with its north end down, so that the effect of 
the Earth’s magnetism may be rather to increase than decrease the strength of the 
magnet and thus assist in overcoming the gradual loss of the magnetic strength with 
time; the stirrup is fastened to a hook in the top of the magnet box to prevent the 
fibers from becoming twisted or broken. 

The determination of the magnetic declination consists of two parts; first, the 
determination of the true meridian as described in the preceding pages, and second, the 
determination of the magnetic meridian. The method of performing the second opera¬ 
tion with the above-described instrument is as follows: Mount the magnetometer, 
which is supposed to have been put in good adjustment, and level carefully by means of 
the striding level. Place the magnetometer so that sides of box will be parallel approxi¬ 
mately to the magnetic meridian. Suspend the torsion weight (a solid brass cylinder of 
the same weight as the magnet) and replace, if need be, the wooden sides of the magnet 
box with others of glass. Watch the vibration of this weight and turn the torsion head 
at the top of the suspension tube until the torsion weight hangs parallel to the sides of 
the magnet box. The suspension fibers are then free from twist. Remove the torsion 
121220°—19-8 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM. 


98 

weight, open the glass window at the south end of the magnet box, and point upon the 
object selected as a reference mark in the observations to determine the true meridian. 
Read the two verniers of the horizontal circle and enter readings in the record. Then 
close the window again, turn the instrument until the telescope points approximately 
south (magnetic), suspend the magnet with its scale erect, raise it to the level of the 
reading telescope, and put back the wooden sides of the magnet box. Next turn the* 
instrument until the division of the scale nearest to the reading of the magnetic axis 
coincides approximately with the vertical line in the diaphragm of the reading tele¬ 
scope, clamp the horizontal circle, and read both verniers. Check the vibrations of the 
magnet by means of a bit of steel or iron until the magnet swings over ,1-2 divisions of 
the scale, and take the extreme readings of the scale of the swinging magnet several 
times at intervals of one minute, recording also the time. The magnet is now turned 
upside down in the stirrup so that the scale appears inverted. It is here that the great 
convenience of an octagonal magnet becomes apparent, as it is possible at once to place 
the magnet in the stirrup in either the erect or inverted position, whereas with a round 
magnet in the older forms of instruments several trials are usually necessar5 r . a Without 
changing the reading of the horizontal circle take several more readings of the scale of 
the magnet at intervals of one minute. Then return the magnet to the erect position and 
make several more scale readings. Read the horizontal circle to see that no change has 
taken place, remove the magnet, and conclude the set of observations by pointing on the 
reference mark. In general it will be found that the erect and inverted scale readings 
differ by several scale divisions owing to the noncoincidence of the magnetic and geo¬ 
metric axes of the magnet. The mean of the two gives the division of the scale corre¬ 
sponding to the magnetic axis, and we can then reduce the reading of the horizontal 
circle when pointing on the recorded scale division to what it would have been had we 
pointed parallel to the magnetic axis. Increasing scale readings, “magnet erect,’’ 
correspond to decreasing circle readings. 

The value in arc of one division of the scale is easily found by pointing on successive 
5 or 10 division marks and noting the corresponding readings of the horizontal circle. 
In this particular instrument one division equals 2'. 

The following example shows the form of record and computation. The azimuth 
of the mark and the reduction to local mean were obtained from the azimuth observa¬ 
tions reproduced on pages go to 93. The diurnal variation or correction to reduce to 
mean of day was obtained from results of continuous observations at the magnetic 
observatory at Baldwin, Kans. In the absence of such results, an approximate correc¬ 
tion would be obtained from a table similar to that given on page 47 (Table III), but 
in either case allowing for the fact that the diurnal variation increases as we go toward 
the magnetic pole. 

a In some instruments of foreign make, recently imported by the Survey, arrangements are made 
whereby the round magnet can be inverted readily 180° from the outside without being obliged to 
open the magnetometer bos and to take hold of the magnet. 




TRUE MERIDIAN AND MAGNETIC DECLINATION. 


99 


Magnetic observations . 

Station, Paducah, Ky. 
Instrument, Mag’r No. 19. 
Mark, Church spire. 

Magnet, 19 L*. 


Declination. 

Date, Tuesday, July 2, 1901. 
Observer, W. W. 

Line of detorsion, 310°. 


Chron. time 

Scale 

Scale readings 

Horizontal circle readings 

Left 

Right 

Mean 



Mark 

Magnet 

h m 


d 

d 

d 



O / 

0 / 

7 54 

E 

38.1 

38.8 

38. 45 


A 

328 00.0 

178 45-5 

55 

E 

37-9 

39 - I 

38 . 50 

Before 

B 

147 56.5 

358 44-5 

57 

I 

37-7 

37 -o 

37 - 35 


A 

328 00.0 

178 45-5 

58 

I 

37 • 7 

37 -o 

37 - 35 

After 

B 

147 56.5 

358 44-5 

59 

I 

37 - 7 

37 -o 

37 - 35 










Mean 


327 58 . 2 

178 45 -o 

8 00 

I 

37 - 7 

37 -o 

37 • 35 





02 

E 

38.1 

38.6 

38. 35 




A 

03 

E 

38.0 

38.6 

38.30 

Scale erect, 

mean 


38.40 






Scale inverted, mean 

37 - 35 






Axis 



37- 88 


Mean scale reading erect 
Axis 

Scale—axis 
Reduction to axis 
Circle reading 


Mag’c S. M. reading 


Mark reading 
Azimuth of mark « 
True S. M. reading 


Magnetic declination E. 
Diurnal variation 


Mean declination E. 


38.40 
37. 88 
+0.52 

+l / . o 

178 45.o 


178 46. o 


327 58. 2 

153 40. 4* 
174 17.8 


4 28. 2 
-2.9 


4 25.3 


Remarks: 

Bright, clear day 
Temp. 33 0 .5 Cent. 

Torsion weight suspended 20 minutes 


Mean chron. time 
Chron. fast on L. M. T. 

Local mean time 


h m 

7 58-5 
54-5 

7 °4 


a Counted from South around by West from o° to 360°. 
































IOO 


PRINCIPAL, FACTS OF THE EARTH’S MAGNETISM 


i 


Diurnal variation of declination at observatories; mean of it years, 1904-1914, inclusive. 


[A plus sign indicates that east declination is greater or west declination is less than the mean for the day.] 


Month. 

Jan., Feb., Nbv., Dec. 

Mar., Apr., Sept., Oct. 

May, June, July, Aug. 

Hour. 

Sitka. 

Ch. 

Hon. 

P. R. 

Sitka. 

Ch. 

Hon. 

P. R. 

Sitka. 

Ch. 

Hon. 

P. R. 


/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

1 a. m. 

— O. 2 

—0. 2 

— O. 2 

—0. 2 

— O. 2 

+0. 1 

— O. 2 

—0. 1 

-O. 9 

+0. 1 

— O. I 

— O. I 

2 a. m. 

— O. I 

-0. 3 

— O. I 

-0. 3 

— O. 2 

+0. 3 

— O. I 

—0. 1 

-O. 7 

+0. 2 

O. O 

—O. I 

3 a. m. 

+ 0. I 

—0. 1 

— O. I 

3 

+ 0. I 

+0. 5 

+0. I 

0. 0 

-O. 4 

+0.3 

+0. 2 

O. O 

4 a. m. 

-j-O. 2 

+0. 1 

O. O 

—0. 2 

+0. 4 

+0.8 

+ 0. 2 

+0. 2 

+0. 9 

+0. 8 

+ 0. 4 

+ 0. 3 

5 a. m. 

-j-o. 4 

+0. 3 

+0. I 

—0. 1 

+ 1. O 

+ 1. 1 

+ 0. 4 

+0. 4 

+ 2. 6 

+ i -7 

+ 0. 7 

+0. 6 

6 a. m. 

+0.6 

+0. 6 

+ 0. I 

0. 0 

+ 2. I 

+2. 0 

+ 0. 9 

+0. 8 

+ 4 - 5 

+ 3 - 5 

+ 1.9 

+ 1.6 

7 a. m. 

+1.1 

+ 1.1 

O. O 

0. 0 

+ 3-4 

+ 3-4 

+ 2. I 

+ i- 7 

+6.1 

+ 4 - 9 

+ 3 - 5 

+ 3 - 0 

8 a. m. 

+ 1- 7 

+2. 0 

+ 0. 9 

+0. 9 

+4- 6 

+4. 2 

+ 3 - 0 

+2.3 

+ 7 - 1 

+ 5-3 

+ 3 - 5 

+ 3 - 2 

9 a. m. 

+ i -9 

+2.6 

+ 1.6 

+2. 0 

+4. 6 

+ 3 - 7 

+ 2. 7 

+ 2- 3 

+6.7 

+4. 0 

+2.3 

+2. 2 

10 a. m. 

+ i -5 

+2. 0 

+ i- 7 

+2. 3 

+ 3 - 4 

+ 1.8 

+ i -3 

+ 1.6 

+ 4 - 7 

+ 1. 1 

+0. 4 

+ 1. 0 

11 a. m. 

+0. 6 

+0. 2 

+0. 6 

+i- 5 

+ i -5 

-0. 9 

-0. 4 

+0. 6 

+ 1. 2 

-1.9 

-i -3 

—0. 1 

Noon. 

—0. 2 

7 

—0. 6 

+0. 2 

—0. 6 

“ 3-2 

-1. 7 

—0. 6 

-1. 8 

-4. 1 

- 2-3 

— 1. 2 

1 p. m. 

— 1. 0 

-2. 7 

-i -3 

-0.9 

—2. 2 

- 4-3 

—2. 2 

-i- 5 

- 3-6 

- 5 '° 

-2. 5 

-1. 7 

2 p. m. 

-i- 5 

— 2. 6 

— 1. 6 

-1.4 

“ 3 -° 

-4. 2 

-1.9 

-i -9 

-4.8 

- 4 - 7 

—2. 1 

—2. 0 

3 P- m - 

— 1. 6 

— 2. O 

-i -3 

-i- 5 

“ 3-2 

~ 3 - 1 

-1. 4 

— 1. 8 

- 5-3 

“ 3 - 5 

-1. 4 

-1.9 

4 p. m. 

-1. 4 

— I. 2 

-0. 7 

— 1. 1 

- 3 -o 

-1. 8 

—0. 8 

-i -3 

-4. 8 

—2. 2 

—0. 8 

-1. 4 

5 P- m. 

— 1. 1 

-°- 5 

0. 0 

-0. 7 

-2- 5 

—0. 8 

°* 5 

-0.8 

- 3-7 

-0.8 

—°- 5 

-0. 7 

6 p. m. 

—0. 6 

O. O 

+0. 2 

-o -3 

-1.9 

-0. 4 

-0.4 

— 5 

“ 2-3 

0. 0 

-0. 4 

—0. 6 

7 p. m. 

—0. 2 

+o -3 

+0. 2 

—0. 1 

-i -3 

—0. 1 

—0. 2 

-0. 4 

— 1. 2 

0. 0 

-o -3 

5 

8 p. m. 

0. 0 

+0. 5 

+0. 2 

+0. 1 

-0.9 

0. 0 

—0. 2 

-P- 3 

—0. 8 

—0. 1 

-o -3 

— 5 

9 p. m. 

—0. 1 

+0.6 

+0. 2 

+0. 2 

—0. 6 

+0. 2 

—0. 2 

—0. 2 

—0. 8 

0. 0 

-0.3 

-0. 4 

10 p. m. 

—0. 1 

+0. 5 

+0. 1 

+0. 1 

-0. 7 

+0. 2 

—0. 2 

—0. 1 

-0. 9 

+0. 1 

—0. 2 

-o -3 

11 p. m. 

—0. 1 

+0. 4 

0. 0 

0. 0 

-0. 5 

+0. 2 

—0. 2 

—0. 1 

—0. 8 

+0. 1 

—0. 2 

—0. 2 

Midnight. 

0. 0 

+0. 1 

—0. 1 

—0. 1 

-0. 4 

+0. 2 

—0. 2 

—0. 1 

-0. 9 

+0. 1 

—0. 2 

—0. 2 


Observatory. 

Declination. 

Dfp. 

Horizontal 

intensity. 

Sitka, Alaska. 

Cheltenham, Md. 

Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Vieques, P. R. 

9 / 

30 12 E. 

5 3 6 W. 

9 29 E. 

2 13 W. 

O / 

74 35 

7° 33 

39 50 

49 47 

y 

15554 

19844 

29138 

28895 


o 


LBN ’19 











































* 





























‘ 

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